Wharton, Law School deans resign

Wharton's Thomas Gerrity is stepping down to spend more time with his family. and Edward Sherwin Wharton School Dean Thomas Gerrity, a noted management scholar whose efforts produced top-ranked academic programs and record fund-raising during his eight-year tenure, announced yesterday that he will step down from his post next July so he can spend more time with his family. Under Gerrity's leadership, the business school's endowment tripled to nearly $300 million and officials finalized plans for a new classroom building on the site of the old University bookstore at 38th and Walnut streets. Groundbreaking for the facility will be in the spring. Officials said the Wharton faculty will meet in the coming weeks to appoint members to a search committee composed of both faculty and students. "It's just one of those things you think about when you've been in a position for a long period of time," the 57-year-old Gerrity said, explaining his decision. "It seemed like a good time to hand over the reins." Another Penn dean, the Law School's Colin Diver, also resigned yesterday, effective next summer. University President Judith Rodin said she is "not going to get locked into a firm prediction" of when Gerrity's successor might be named. But Gerrity, who was Wharton's 11th dean in its 117 years of existence, said he expects a new dean to be in place by the time he leaves office next summer. Gerrity said that he spent "a really long time" in his position and wanted to spend more time with his wife and four children, ages five, seven, nine and 11. And though he has not held a regular teaching position since 1972 -- when he left the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, his alma mater -- Gerrity said he plans to take on a full-time professorship in Wharton's Management Department. In a letter to University Trustees yesterday, Rodin praised Gerrity for his "unparalleled" leadership. "That the Wharton School is broadly regarded as the finest business school in the world is a testament to the work of Tom Gerrity," she wrote. "He personifies the strength of the Wharton School and will leave it without peer." Gerrity said he had been talking with administrators for several months about his plans to step down in the near future, but he only came to a final decision several weeks ago. Unlike this summer's departure of former Engineering School Dean Gregory Farrington -- who left for the presidency of Lehigh University with fewer than three months' notice -- Gerrity said he scheduled his departure to allow for a seamless change in leadership. "I believe strongly that is is healthy for all institutions? to seek renewal through new leadership on a regular basis," he wrote in his resignation letter. "I believe now is such a time." Several colleagues and faculty members said they will miss Gerrity, but understood his decision. "I've had the pleasure of serving under [Gerrity] for 4 1/2 years," said Wharton Graduate Dean Bruce Allen. "At the same time, the school is more than just one person." Allen said Gerrity's leaving to be with his family actually sends "a really great signal to the students, that there is more to life than just work" -- something many Wharton students and faculty members often overlook. Wharton Undergraduate Dean Richard Herring praised Gerrity's strong commitment to undergraduate education. "In the 26 years I've been here, he's put more emphasis on undergraduate education than any other dean," Herring said. Among the programs that have developed under Gerrity's encouragement are Management 100, a mandatory leadership class, and the recently-initiated writing-assessment module, which is designed to help students develop their writing skills early on, Herring explained. Finance Professor Armando Gomes said Gerrity was "an excellent dean." "[This is] only my second year here, but he's an excellent dean in my view," he said. Several students also said Gerrity's departure will leave a void. Wharton junior Aaron Fidler credited Gerrity with helping the school to gain more worldwide recognition. Also the vice chairperson of the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education, Fidler said the school's future success will be the ultimate tribute to Gerrity's leadership. "The mark of a good leader is that whatever he leaves behind is able to continue even without him there anymore," he said. Gerrity received his bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering from MIT in 1963 and 1964, respectively. After a stint as a Rhodes Scholar in economics at Oxford University, he went on to get his doctorate in management from MIT's Sloan School of Management in 1970. He served on the Sloan faculty from 1968 and 1972. Gerrity was the founder and chief executive officer for 20 years of the Index Group, a consulting firm that advises companies in business re-engineering and strategic change. Prior to coming to Wharton, he was the president of CSC Consulting, the commercial professional services division of Computer Sciences Corp. and the parent of the former Index Group, now CSC Index.