An e-mail containing a shortlist of final candidates for the Penn presidency and rumors of an imminent announcement were circulating throughout the University administration yesterday, according to several Penn officials.
The list included National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Nancy Cantor, Radcliffe at Harvard University Dean Drew Faust and Princeton Provost Amy Gutmann.
Gutmann's selection as the Board of Trustees' nomination for president confirmed one of these rumors.
In late October, Carnegie Mellon University President and Penn alumnus Jared Cohon surfaced as a potential candidate for the Penn presidency. Following the release of this information, Cohon withdrew his candidacy for the position.
Though Gutmann was ultimately selected, Rice, Cantor and Faust all boast impressive credentials.
Rice, who was rumored to be the favorite in Penn's search, gained university experience at Stanford, where she served as a political science professor. She eventually became the university's provost in 1993 -- a position she held for six years.
In December 2001, President George W. Bush named Rice national security adviser -- a job which has entailed assisting the president with national and foreign policy matters.
Born in Birmingham, Ala., Rice earned her undergraduate degree at age 19 from the University of Denver in 1974, a master's degree from the University of Notre Dame in 1975 and a Ph.D. in international studies at the University of Denver in 1981.
Faust was also a potential prime candidate in the search because of her experience as a leader at a fellow Ivy League school.
She is the founding dean of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study -- one of Harvard University's 10 schools -- and also served as an Annenberg professor of history at Penn.
In her time at Penn, "she did it all," said Janice Madden, director of Women's Studies, professor of regional science and sociology at Penn and a friend and former colleague of Faust.
Madden added that Faust has "done wonderful research. She was a star professor and a wonderful administrator."
Faust received her B.A. in 1968 from Bryn Mawr College, and her M.A. and P.h.D. from Penn in 1971 and 1975, respectively.
The author of five books, Faust was also the president of the Southern Historical Association and the vice president of the American Historical Association.
Cantor shares Faust's passion for writing, having co-written or co-edited three books.
In addition to her literary assests, Cantor has a long history in academic administration.
She served as chairwoman of the Psychology Department at Princeton University, and both dean of the Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studies and vice provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Michigan.
In 1974, Cantor received a degree from Sarah Lawrence College and in 1978 obtained her Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University.
Before becoming chancellor in 2001, Cantor was the chief executive officer at the University of Illinois.
