Mag gives Rodin top honors

'Ladies' Home Journal' namedJudith Rodin as one of the most improtant women in America. University President Judith Rodin was named one of America's 100 most important women in the November issue of the Ladies' Home Journal. The magazine ranks women in eight categories, ranging from "Arts and Letters" and "Media" to "Government and Politics" and "Entertainment/Sports." First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Ally McBeal actress Calista Flockhart, Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd and eBay Chief Executive Officer Meg Whitman were all included in the list. Rodin is recognized in the "Law/Education" category, along with Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O'Connor, among others. Rodin, 55, is the only university president named and one of few academics included in the list. "It is an honor to be recognized in this way," Rodin said. "The biographies of the other women listed in Ladies' Home Journal clearly remind us how far women in this century have come and how much they have contributed. I am delighted to be in such esteemed company." This is the first -- and likely only -- year that the magazine has ranked women in this capacity, according to Ladies' Home Journal Assistant Editor Sarah Smith, who did much of the research for the piece. Smith said the magazine editors were looking for those women "who are agents of change right now" in America. The contributors for the piece pored over hundreds of people in different career categories. They then submitted a list to the magazine's editors, who made the final cuts. Rodin attracted the magazine's attention as the first and only female president of an Ivy League institution, Smith said. "We would think of it as a big deal," she said. "We hope that people consider this an honor because we're certainly honoring them in it." The blurb under Rodin's headcut also makes reference to her career as a renowned psychologist, calling her "highly regarded for her research into obesity and eating disorders." She has written dozens of books and journal articles. Earlier this year, Vanity Fair named Rodin as one of the most powerful women in the country. And last fall, Rodin was listed among the top 20 women leaders by a group called The White House Project seeking to find a woman to win the presidency. Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell has said before that Rodin would have been a "dynamite candidate" for mayor had she decided to run. But even though her name has long been circulating around Washington, D.C., circles, Rodin has repeatedly denied having any political ambitions. "I really haven't considered the next job," Rodin said last month. "I came very late to administrative roles." "Never did I set out early in my career to be a university president," she added. And in September, Rodin submitted a non-binding "letter of understanding" to the University Board of Trustees, indicating her intention to stay on as Penn's chief executive through the next five years.