Committees formed to fill three top posts

Top positions are vacant in the Engineering School, ICA and Fels Center of Government. Interested in running a high-profile engineering school or art gallery? How about a struggling school of government? Good news: A job at the University of Pennsylvania could be yours, as Penn has formed three search committees in the last week to fill vacant posts in the University's administration, including that of Gregory Farrington, the former dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Committees to find new directors for the Institute of Contemporary Art and the Fels Center of Government have also just been assembled. While Interim Provost Michael Wachter praised the committees for the quality of their members, he asserted that there are no firm timetables for finding new administrators. "We are very fortunate to have talented and committed committee members and chairs, who will drive these search committees to their successful ends," he said. "We would obviously like these positions filled as quickly as possible, but searches take time given the need to identify and recruit the best person to fill the position." Farrington announced his resignation May 21, effective in August, to assume the presidency of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. In July, Penn named Chemical Engineering Professor Eduardo Glandt as the school's interim dean until it could find a permanent replacement. The 11-member committee to find a replacement for Farrington is chaired by Operations and Information Management Professor Morris Cohen. The committee was "charged," or given formal instructions to proceed with the search, Friday by Wachter and University President Judith Rodin. "We've met, and that's all we've done," Morris said. "I expect that we'll be working at this through the academic year." Six professors, one alumnus, Dean Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg School for Communication and two students -- one undergraduate and one doctoral candidate -- join Cohen on the committee. The Fels search committee faces a much more daunting task: trying to resurrect a program that the University has in recent years considered dissolving. Fels, which offers only a Master of Government Administration degree, was formerly run out of the Graduate School of Fine Arts but is now operated by the provost's office. An attempt to lure top American politics scholar Paul Light to Fels' directorship fizzled over the summer, as Light chose to remain in his current position with the Pew Charitable Trusts, a Philadelphia-based philanthropy. The seven-member committee, charged last Wednesday, is chaired by Political Science Professor Jack Nagel. Vice Provost for Graduate Education Janice Madden, a member of the Fels committee, said that the committee is "focused" on a national search for a new director, adding that the committee has already discussed several potential candidates. The other search committee aims to replace Patrick Murphy, who resigned in September as head of the 35-year-old ICA after eight years on the job for a position in Dublin. The ICA -- which has displayed the works of such controversial artists as Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano -- moved to its current location at 36th and Sansom streets in 1991 and is overseen by the provost's office. GSFA Dean Gary Hack is chairing the committee. Committee member Bonnie Gibson, the executive director of administrative affairs in the provost's office, said the committee -- which receives its charge next Thursday -- has not met yet formally and does not have any timetable. Wachter said that the University has yet to form search committees to replace outgoing Wharton Dean Thomas Gerrity and outgoing Law School Dean Colin Diver, both of whom announced their resignations last month, effective next summer. Wachter said that the committees would be formed "very shortly."