Judith Rodin is about to complete a successful decade as president of a leading research university, the apex of a long series of prestigious academic and lucrative business appointments.
Now what?
"I always thought of her as a person who wanted to build an institution rather than advance her career," Political Science Professor Henry Teune said, also noting, "She's not leaving here to go anywhere."
Speculation as to where soon-to-be ex-University President Rodin might find her next career is nothing new -- a Daily Pennsylvanian columnist suggested just this past fall that Rodin ought to throw her hat into the 2004 U.S. presidential election -- and has predictably intensified since she recently announced her coming departure. While many predict that politics will likely play a role in Rodin's future, experts agree that Rodin's next steps remain up in the air.
"She brings an impressive array of credentials into any public office that she would seek," Head of Millersville University's Center for Politics and Public Affairs Terry Madonna said.
Considering Rodin's prospects from the governorship to congress, Madonna narrowed the field.
'The House would be great and the Senate would be even better, but the question is finding the opportunity," Madonna said. "Running for senate is not a first political office."
Teune agreed. "Usually you have a political career before you jump into the Senate race," he said, but was quick to note "that doesn't mean it isn't possible." Teune cited Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) as an example.
However unquestionably qualified Rodin may be for an eventual political office, Madonna noted that -- especially if she decides to run in this state -- resumes sometimes lose to rhetoric.
"The challenges of campaigning and the nature of campaigns is such that you have tremendously qualified people who sometimes don't win," Madonna said.
And some avenues are simply closed. Citing well-known, well-liked congressmen such as Philadelphia's own Robert Brady, Madonna called some potential races "virtually suicidal."
"She'd be a suitable candidate to run against somebody like Rick Santorum," he said.
Rodin might find a starting point as an appointed officer in Governor Ed Rendell's administration.
"I know Rendell thinks very highly of what's happened at Penn," Madonna said. "I see Rendell coming to her and saying, 'I need you to head this major task force on this assignment ...."
With scores of offices open from the milk marketing board to the liquor control board, "Rendell could easily tap her for one of those assignments," Madonna said.
And while Lieutenant Governor Catherine Baker Knoll's spokesman Shawn O'Connor said he had no knowledge of conversations Rodin may have had with Baker Knoll, he noted that such conversations, if they were to take place, would be private.
Madonna also emphasizing the uncertainty of a political future for Rodin in the state, pointing out that "Pennsylvania... is not known as a place that attracts people such as [Rodin] for politics," as the Keystone State tends to be "first and foremost a place of politics, not of policy."
"It can be frustrating for doers and for executives who are used to... a rational decision making style," Madonna said.
Though Rodin has occasionally taken heat from local politicians, especially for the University's stance on graduate student unionization, Madonna said that -- despite the show of solidarity between the Penn graduate students' organizing committee, local unions and the City Council over the past months -- her record will not be much of a handicap.
