Poli Sci Dept. sees few improvements despite recruitment

Penn's efforts to increase the Political Science Department's depleted faculty ranks -- and to resurrect the beleaguered Fels Center of Government -- suffered a setback this summer when American politics scholar Paul Light chose not to come to Penn after a long courtship by the University. The University has thus far been largely unsuccessful in its quest to hire faculty in the area of American politics. Light was being recruited both to join the Political Science staff -- which has already seen two junior faculty leave Penn last year and four senior faculty announce plans to retire this year -- and to direct the Fels Center. With only one new faculty member coming to the department this fall, department officials are using an increased number of graduate students and visiting professors to expand the number of offered courses. Light, 45, is director of the Philadelphia-based Pew Charitable Trusts, one of the nation's largest private philanthropies. The author of 10 books, he previously taught at the University of Minnesota and was a visiting professor at Fels this spring. Light, who denied any serious interest in leaving his post for the University, is responsible for distributing $16 million this year to programs working to improve government. In April, Political Science Department Chairperson Ian Lustick said he was "operating with 95 percent confidence" that Light would be on Penn's faculty this fall. But in July Lustick said he was "not only disappointed, but very surprised" at Light's rejection of the University's "extremely responsive and exciting" offer. "We went several extra miles for this one," College Dean Richard Beeman said. "Paul Light represented by combination of talent and past experience a unique opportunity. There is not another Paul Light waiting in the wings." University President Judith Rodin said in April that she hoped Light would be attracted by the opportunity to run Fels, which has fallen on hard times since former director James Spady resigned in 1996. Having lost its accreditation, Fels is now run out of the Provost's Office. In addition to its implications for Fels, Light's decision to stay at Pew leaves the Political Science Department without any new senior faculty hires for the fall -- one of the department's top goals and a strategic priority under the University's Agenda for Excellence. Lustick said last fall that he was confident that three or four new faculty would be on staff by September. Only one recruit, international relations scholar David Rousseau of the State University of New York at Buffalo, has accepted Penn's offer. "[Rousseau] has an established track record of prestige publications and outstanding, innovative teaching," Lustick said. "Students can expect to experience a far more interactive course than they may be used to in large lecture classes." In order to expand the department's offerings, a number of graduate students and postdoctoral instructors -- along with two visiting professors -- will teach classes this fall, according to Undergraduate Chairperson Henry Teune. "[Lustick] is trying to enrich our curriculum for at least the next year," Teune said. "In the meantime, we've got to do the best we can." With Light's decision not to join the Penn faculty, officials are redoubling their efforts to recruit faculty for the fall of 1999. At a summer meeting of the deans in the School of Arts and Sciences, the department was granted authorization to hire up to four senior and one junior faculty members in the next year, according to SAS Dean Samuel Preston. Lustick said he is currently talking to three other potential senior faculty hires. Of those, he said that Jim Snyder of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is the furthest along in the discussions. Beeman said scholars' decisions whether or not to uproot themselves are based on a number of "personal and professional" considerations. "We are going out and recruiting senior faculty who've already got great jobs at places like Stanford, Princeton and MIT," he said. "We're helping their spouses find jobs [in Philadelphia]. We're showing them neighborhoods. We're showing them school systems." Beeman emphasized that recruiting at the senior level is a difficult process that rarely yields a positive result. "Every one of the recruitments is at best a less than 50-50 proposition," he said. "This is not like dealing for [oft-traded baseball star] Mike Piazza. They can't be sent wherever by their owners." Light, however, is optimistic about the University's efforts. "I think they'll do well in their trying to rebuild," he said. "Once they recruit the first one, the rest will fall in due order."

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