Law dean could be named this week

University officials have said the announcement of the new dean of the Law School is 'imminent' after a 15-month search. The end of the exhaustive 15-month search for the next dean of the Law School may be in sight. In fact, an announcement is "imminent," top University officials have said during the past week. But while it seems likely that an announcement will come as soon as this week, "imminent," as Penn administrators have used it, can mean anywhere from two days to two months. Law School Dean Search Committee Chairman Richard Herring, who is also the vice dean of the Wharton School, said last Tuesday that he expected to hear an announcement by the end of the week. But with President Clinton visiting campus and repercussions from the ouster of William Kelley as Health System chief and Medical School dean still being felt, the week came and went without an announcement. And in an interview last week, University President Judith Rodin said she did not know when a decision would be made public. Since January, University officials have said the process was coming to an end and an announcement would be forthcoming. "I expect to hear a decision from the president and provost in the next few weeks," Herring said in January, after his committee had submitted its final list of candidates to Rodin and Provost Robert Barchi at the end of the fall semester. And when Patrick Harker was named the dean of Wharton in early February -- drawing that 14-month search to a close -- other Penn officials said they believed that the Law School dean would be announced by the University Trustees meetings on February 17. But that was before Kelley's dismissal, and some administrators have said that after more than a year of searching, the University would hardly want the announcement to be overshadowed by other campus events. As the process has dragged on since November 1998, members of the search committee have remained extremely tight-lipped, revealing few details and refusing to confirm any names. In recent months, Law professors Heidi Hurd and Michael Fitts have surfaced as potential candidates. Rodin, Herring and all search committee members have refused to confirm whether or not either was on the list of finalists or was even a candidate. They have also refused to discuss whether candidates on the final list were external or internal, saying only that the committee considered both. The Law School is currently headed by Interim Dean Charles Mooney, who has been serving in that capacity since Colin Diver stepped down from the position last summer. Diver announced his resignation in October 1998 after 10 years as leader of the school.

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