Poli Sci expects five new profs by next year

Poli Sci made one offer this fall, but all its prior efforts have thus far been unsuccessful. Despite the increasing competition among universities seeking to hire qualified professors, Penn's Political Science Department expects to offer classes taught by five new professors in as early as a year's time. According to members of the University-wide task force charged with recruiting senior political science professors specializing in the broad area of American and Comparative Democratic and Legal Institutions, Penn has already made one offer of employment this fall, with more to come in the near future. The task force's most recent offer went to a candidate who would serve a dual role at Penn -- teaching in both the Political Science and History departments -- should he or she decide to accept the job. University officials refused to elaborate on the candidate's identity or current academic affiliation, citing the recruitment process' delicate nature. The task force expects a response in the next two or three months time, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Richard Beeman said. The department was singled out in University President Judith Rodin's 1995 Agenda for Excellence as needing substantially more senior faculty, especially in the broad area specified by the task force. Since the report was released, the department has lost several additional professors, and has only hired two junior faculty members. The task force's increased recruitment activity this semester is a result of the recent deterioration of the Political Science Department. The situation was made worse by the recent departures of professors Daniel Deudney and Marisa Golden and the imminent retirements of four current faculty members. Also, top American Politics scholar Paul Light refused an offer over the summer to join the department and head the Fels Center of Government. Overall, the department's size has remained stagnant, despite years of optimistic comments from administrators about imminent hirings. Since last spring, the task force has made three offers, none of which have been definitively accepted or rejected. Of these offers, Penn and department officials said last July that Jim Snyder, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor, was the most likely to accept an offer. The offer made to Snyder includes a salary increase, an endowed chair, and the right to recruit more faculty to the department. Like the most recent offer, Snyder is a professor knowledgeable in more than one department, as he also specializes in economics. Law Professor Kim Scheppele, a member of the task force, said the group may extend as many as 10 offers, which includes the five new faculty members called for in the Agenda plus five other hires to replace retiring faculty. Whether or not the task force will actually succeed in drawing the professors to Penn, however, may be a different story. The demand for senior professors in the American/Comparative field is increasing among elite schools across the country, including Yale and Princeton universities, Beeman said. "I feel that it remains a daunting challenge? both because of the difficulty of acquiring senior faculty and because we now face significant competitive factors from other universities," Beeman said. At Yale, despite a hiring freeze, the political science department has been given permission to search for new faculty members, according to Yale Professor Donald Green. Princeton officials could not be reached for comment yesterday. The latest offers stem from a more ambitious effort by the task force -- whose members include Beeman, School of Arts and Sciences Dean Samuel Preston, Annenberg School for Communication Dean Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Interim Provost Michael Wachter and professors from the Law School, Wharton School and Political Science Department -- to recruit a large number of faculty quickly. "Last spring we were really focusing our energy on two or three candidates," Beeman said. "This fall we have set ourselves on a more ambitious effort, meeting once every two weeks." In addition to trying to recruit the field's best professors, how well the recruits are able to work with one another is an important concern of members of the task force. "We are trying to put together a group of people who will like working with one another, people that like each other," Scheppele said. According to many department officials, if Penn is able to recruit one or two senior professors of distinguished status and they are able to assimilate well into the department, more professors will be attracted to the University. "Penn is a great university which is perceived by its peers as moving up," Beeman said. "As soon as we get one or two key [professors], more will follow."