Members of The Daily Pennsylvanian sat down with Penn presidential nominee Amy Gutmann for an interview yesterday. Excerpts from the transcript will appear over the next two days.
The Daily Pennsylvanian: What do you think your main challenges will be when coming to Penn?
Amy Gutmann: The main challenge will be moving Penn forward, building on the momentum that exists and increasing it; really getting to know this place intimately; ... making a great place even greater. The biggest challenge that any place as wonderful as Penn has ... is sustaining the excellence and the next biggest challenge is building on it something even better.
DP: Are there any specific areas that you would look at as particularly challenging, or something that you want to sustain or build on?
AG: Yes. I think Penn's comparative advantage is that it has a great liberal arts university surrounded by great professional schools, all in one coherent, urban campus. And one of my foremost missions is to make that work even better. I think to make the academic excellence of this place first and foremost in a way that interfaces terrifically with the professional schools and with the urban community is the genius of Penn and I don't think it's been fully realized. ...
I know that you've all talked about how little I know about this place and it's true [that] compared to people who have been here for many years, I know a lot less. But believe it or not, I don't think that's the biggest challenge. I think I can learn that very quickly because there are so many great leaders here who are so willing to talk to me and tell me, and I'm a pretty quick study.
DP: What are you doing specifically in your visits here to start to tackle learning about our University?
AG: I've asked people to set up meetings with me, and this is my first day and I met ... with [School of Arts and Sciences Dean] Sam Preston, [Wharton Dean] Pat Harker, [Dean] Mike Fitts of the Law School, [Dean] Afaf Meleis of Nursing and now with you. And I will have dinner with [University President Judith Rodin]. So I will just mix up people to meet with over the next few months. This is my learning period.
DP: At this point you don't have any plans to bring in any other administrators? What about any vacancies?
AG: I don't have any plans at this point.
DP: Specifically ... the executive vice president position?
AG: Right, there are several positions that won't be filled without my input, but I haven't had any significant time to figure out right now what exactly to do. I will be working on that, there's a VP for Development position. That's another position that I need to pick somebody for.
DP: There's a quote from 2001 ... where you said you weren't interested in being president.
AG: Yeah, and for a period of two years, anytime anyone called me, I said, "I'm happy to give you advice and suggest names for you, but I really just want to tell you I can't move." So it was only in the last half-year that I was willing to consider it, and that was because the Penn opportunity came.
