Harker named as new Wharton dean

Patrick Harker plans to focus his tenure on improving Wharton's use of technology. Technology may be transforming the business world, but it's Patrick Harker who hopes to transform business education. As the 12th dean of the Wharton School, Harker is prepared to lead the business school into the 21st century by using technology to create what he calls a "community of learning." "People will say it's about changing the curriculum, but I think the game is bigger than that," Harker said. "It's not about changing the curriculum. It's about changing learning." Harker said he plans to begin his tenure as the business school's permanent head by engaging faculty in discussions on how technology can be used to enhance Wharton's educational programs. It is a dialogue that Harker should be familiar with by now. As interim and deputy dean, he oversaw the development of the MBA program's E-Commerce major as well as the expansion of Wharton's distance learning initiatives. And Harker has also been frequently linked to many of the business school's other technology-oriented projects. "Pat has been one of the major advocates for Wharton in particular in thinking about how it will own the technology space and own the global environment," University President Judith Rodin said. "He's very technology savvy," former Wharton Dean Thomas Gerrity added. "And given that technology is front and center in every business school, that is a real strength." Although he is yet to come up with specific plans for his deanship, Harker said he wants to rethink the ways that Wharton students learn. "If we are going to provide students with the life skills they need, we're going to have to teach them how to work in virtual teams with people they have never seen before," he said. He also noted the importance of establishing interdisciplinary programs that will enable Wharton students to work with other Penn faculty and students, and with other business schools around the world. But Harker said he knows his agenda will be an expensive undertaking. "What we are talking about is not cheap, but I don't think we have a choice," he said. "The game we are playing right now is a high-stakes game. It's the future of education." Harker has demonstrated the ability to raise money, one of the most important demands of a dean's job. "Even though he has held two jobs as interim and deputy dean, he's raised over $31 million for the capital campaign," said Gerrity, who spearheaded Wharton's current capital campaign during his tenure as dean. "He's gotten off to a much faster start than I did." And Rodin noted that his fundraising prowess was key to him getting the job. "Seeing people who were meeting with him and getting to know him, [I could see] how effective he was being perceived as a fundraiser," she said. "He is such a likeable person and a true visionary." Harker also said he was not afraid of taking charge of a school that is already considered one of the best in the world --Ea concern that some speculated was common in dean candidates and one of the reasons the search dragged on for so long. "It's a three- or four-horse race," he said, referring to other top business schools such as Northwestern, Stanford and Harvard universities. "We've got to break out of that pack right now. I wouldn't have taken the job if I didn't think I could." An alumnus of Penn's undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs in Engineering, Harker has had a distinguished career as a scholar of the service sector and holds several copyrights and patents. In 1991, he was one of 16 men and women named as a White House Fellow by former President George Bush, serving as a special technology consultant to the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Before serving in Wharton's administration, Harker was the chairman of the Operations and Information Systems Department and was also once head of the Systems Department in the Engineering School. Harker is a resident of Haddon Heights, N.J., where he lives with his wife -- a Wharton alumna who he met as a sophomore at a Penn fraternity party -- and three children.