U. names more faculty for college houses

and Edward Sherwin The University filled a few holes in the new college house system Wednesday as Interim Provost Michael Wachter announced the appointments of two faculty masters and a faculty fellow for the fall. English Professor Emeritus Robert Lucid and School of Social Work Professor Kenwyn Smith will take the helms at Gregory, a combination of Van Pelt and Modern Languages college houses, and Ware College houses, respectively. William Franklin, a research specialist in the Graduate School of Education, will move into the W.E.B. DuBois College House. With these appointments, only the faculty master positions in Stouffer and Community houses remain unfilled, although Wachter said these posts would be filled within the next two weeks. After threatening to resign over the administration's decision not to rehire Assistant Dean in Residence Diana Koros, Political Science Professor Steven Gale re-applied for the faculty master position in Community House. Wachter has not yet decided whether to renew his term. Franklin is the last of 15 faculty fellows to be named under the college house system. His appointment follows that of six other new fellows two weeks ago. "I think what we are doing is really critical for what we want to do with the undergraduate experience," Wachter said, emphasizing the importance of expanded house staffing. Lucid, 67, is no stranger to Penn's residential system, having served as faculty master of Hill College House from 1979 to 1996 and as chairperson of the Residential Faculty Council from 1994-96. He also chaired the Collegiate Planning Board, from which the idea for a comprehensive college house system originated. "Having Lucid back is just spectacular," Wachter said. "He's an exceptional Penn scholar and citizen." During his tenure at Penn, Lucid won both the Lindback and Ira Abrams awards for distinguished teaching, served as chairperson of the English Department and founded the Penn-in-London program. He will be moving into Gregory with his wife Joanne after a two-year absence. He left Hill in 1996 due to macular degeneration, a severe eye condition. Lucid said he hoped to create continuity between the 12 houses in the system and to unite Gregory's two buildings, the former Van Pelt and Modern Languages college houses. Wachter praised Smith, an organizational psychologist, as a "superb teacher" who is an "obvious guy to hold this position." Smith, in his mid 50s, should find students easy to work with because he is used to more heated conflicts that emerge in social welfare settings, Wachter added. The Australian professor will be joined in Ware College House by his wife, Psychology Professor Sara Corse, and his sons, 10-year-old twins Justin and Phillip and a 7-year-old daughter, Kalila. He stressed that accepting the position was a family decision, made only after his wife and children consented. "[Sara and I] both really planned to do this together," he said. "She is enormously talented." Corse, who has worked with drug dependent pregnant women and Smith, who co-founded the Metropolitan AIDS Neighborhood Nutritional Alliance, share a common interest in health and society. And Smith explained that they hope to use their experience to generate more community between Penn students and the neighborhood. Franklin, a specialist in child and adolescent development, comes to DuBois with plenty of experience. He was a residential fellow at California State University at Northridge, where he managed the daily operations of a 760-student dormitory.