U. expected to announce new provost

Sources say Neurology Chairperson Robert Barchi will be named Penn's next chief academic officer. Reported by Yochi Dreazen, Michael Mugmon and Edward Sherwin The Daily Pennsylvanian After an exhaustive 11-month-long national search, Neurology and Neuroscience Department Chairperson Robert Barchi will be named the University's new provost today, sources close to the faculty- and student-composed provost search committee said yesterday. The expected announcement caps off months of feverish speculation and rumors about who would replace former Provost Stanley Chodorow. Although official channels remained silent yesterday about Barchi's imminent appointment, several knowledgeable sources confirmed that the 52-year-old physician and academic would be named the University's chief academic officer. "Barchi is the man," one source familiar with the committee's deliberations said yesterday. Barchi has been at Penn since earning his doctorate in biochemistry in 1972, and is widely seen as a strong-willed, dynamic leader with well-honed organizational skills. But despite having a strong academic reputation in the medical community, Barchi has no experience in liberal arts fields or in working with undergraduate students. Faculty and administrative circles had been abuzz in recent weeks with speculation as to who would replace Chodorow, who resigned last October, and when the successor would be named. The rumor mill went into overdrive yesterday when University President Judith Rodin told the Executive Committee of the Faculty Senate that the post would be filled before the end of the year, according to several faculty members with knowledge of the meeting. "[Rodin] said there would be an announcement before Christmas," said one professor who spoke on the condition of anonymity. "That was quite a bombshell to the Senate Executive Committee." Michael Wachter has served as interim provost since January 1 of this year. Wachter refused to comment yesterday and it is unclear when he will step down and whether he will return to his former position of deputy provost. No official announcement has been made on Barchi's imminent appointment and University President Judith Rodin refused to comment yesterday. Outgoing Wharton School Dean Thomas Gerrity, the chairperson of the provost search committee, could not be reached for comment last night, but had previously refused to comment on specific candidates. Barchi, who lives in Gladwyne, Pa., with his wife and two children, could not be reached for comment last night. People familiar with Barchi's professional and academic work, however, were quick to praise the graduate of North Philadelphia's St. Joseph's Preparatory School. "He's highly experienced; he's smart; he's thoughtful [and] he's assertive," said Medical School Dean William Kelley, who is also the chief executive officer of Penn's health system and oversees both the clinical and academic aspects of Barchi's department. "Bob Barchi will be wonderful for the job." And while Barchi's lack of experience outside the Medical School may steepen the learning curve as he moves from Hamilton Walk to Locust Walk, sources familiar with the process to date stressed that they were confident he'd be able to make the adjustment successfully. "I'm not at all concerned about Barchi's lack of liberal arts or undergraduate experience," one highly placed source said. "He brings a lot of strengths to the table. He's a clear thinker, very well-organized and has a great understanding of the issues affecting the University." Barchi's imminent appointment caps off a long and at times frustrating year for the 16-member provost search committee. In June, the search committee sent Rodin a list of four external candidates for the position, several sources said in October. But the panel reconvened in September after one of the candidates dropped out and three were rejected for reasons ranging from poor recommendations to a resume which may have misrepresented a candidate's qualifications. At about the same time, outgoing Law School Dean Colin Diver said that several deans had approached him about taking the vacant provostship, an invitation he declined. Barchi's appointment comes at a time of rapid administrative transition at the University. New deans for the School of Arts and Sciences and the College of Arts and Sciences were named in January, although three other top posts remain open. The deanship of the School of Engineering and Applied Science has been vacant since May, when former Dean Gregory Farrington left to assume the presidency of Lehigh University. Additionally, Gerrity and Diver announced separately on October 6 that they were planning to step down from their positions as deans next summer. Search committees have been formed to fill the Engineering, Wharton and Law posts, along with vacancies at the helms of the Institute for Contemporary Art and the Fels Center of Government. Barchi graduated from Georgetown University in 1968 with both a bachelor's degree in biology and a master's degree in cell biology. He earned his doctorate from Penn in 1972 and his medical degree a year later. After his residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Barchi joined the Neurology Department's faculty with secondary appointments in Biochemistry and Biophysics. He has chaired the Neuroscience Department since 1992, and the Neurology Department since 1995. He is also the author of more than a hundred published scholarly papers, and is a member of numerous professional and scientific organizations. Barchi has held a variety of positions at Penn, including a stint as a vice dean of the Medical School, and has served on a number of University committees, including chairing a task force charged with creating a new interdisciplinary program in cognitive neuroscience at Penn, one of the academic goals of Rodin's Agenda for Excellence.