Engineering dean search continues

Eduardo Glandt ha held the position of interim dean since last summer. The search continues. It has been nearly a year since former Engineering Dean Gregory Farrington left Penn to become the president of Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., and the school still finds itself, as it did last July, in need of a permanent replacement. In November, University President Judith Rodin and then-Interim Provost Michael Wachter charged an 11-member search committee comprised of six professors, one alumnus, Dean Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the Annenberg School for Communication, two students and Operations and Information Management Professor Morris Cohen, who is the committee's chairperson. "We are still on the same timetable. We'd like to get a new dean as soon as possible," Cohen said Tuesday, adding that the committee has met regularly and has sifted through more than 200 internal and external candidates. Rodin and Provost Robert Barchi, who are responsible for approving the final list of candidates, have been consulting with the the search committee, Cohen said. "There's been quite a bit of progress," said Mechanical Engineering Professor Vijay Kumar, who is a member of the search committee. Still, several sources close to the situation said they doubted that the search committee would make a final appointment before September. The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences has been without a permanent dean since last August, when Farrington officially stepped down. The University responded by naming Chemical Engineering Professor Eduardo Glandt to the position of interim dean last July. Glandt, who chaired the Engineering School's elected Faculty Council for several years in the 1980s, had initially been expected to serve for only a year. But now, as the search may continue into the upcoming school year, Glandt said he is prepared to remain as dean until the committee officially names a replacement. "I'm certainly eager to move on, but the most important thing for us is to get the leader that the school needs. That should take precedence," Glandt said. But one member of the Engineering School's faculty, who is not a member of the search committee, said Glandt would be an "outstanding dean," noting that it would not be surprising if Glandt were asked to stay on as Farrington's permanent replacement should the committee not find a more qualified candidate. Another Engineering School professor said there had been "a lot of talk" among professors that Glandt could be named as dean. "His name has always been in consideration for the position," Morris said. Glandt declined to comment on whether or not he was a serious candidate for permanent dean. Chemical Engineering Professor Dan Hammer, who is also not a member of the search committee, said he hoped the committee would find someone with "national status," such as a member of the National Academy of Engineers, a preeminent engineering organization of which Glandt himself is a member. The University is still engaged in two other high-profile searches, as search committees charged with finding new deans for the Wharton and Law schools continue to meet regularly and interview candidates. The Nursing School is also searching for a new undergraduate dean to replace longtime head Mary Naylor, who resigned in December. Penn also ended two publicized searches this summer, naming Lawrence Sherman and Claudia Gould as directors of the Fels Center of Government and the Institute of Contemporary Art, respectively.

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