With recent announcements from Duke and Rice universities, Penn has been effectively left alone in the search for a new University president.
However, in terms of months spent searching, Penn remains in a favorable position.
According to Robert Steel, who chaired Duke's presidential search committee, a presidential search requires at least eight to 10 months to complete because of its magnitude and importance.
Thus, despite the resources of universities and their search committees, one asset remains paramount: time.
Six months have passed since University President Judith Rodin announced her pending resignation -- and four months since the search committee was named.
The data from the Duke and Rice searches seem to agree with Steel's eight- to 10-month estimate.
While outgoing Rice President Malcolm Gillis gave more than a year's notice -- announcing in December 2002 that his term would end on June 30, 2004 -- the university did not formally begin looking for a replacement for another four months.
Rice formed a search committee that began meeting in March, commencing nine months of searching that ended with the selection of David Leebron, currently the dean of the Columbia School of Law.
Duke also announced a successful search, deciding upon Richard Brodhead, dean of Yale College.
Duke formed a search committee in two months, beginning their search in May after outgoing President Nannerl Keohane's March 2003 announcement that her term would also end in June 2004.
Penn reacted with similar speed, announcing a search committee in September after Rodin's June 20, 2003, announcement that she would step down in June 2004.
Despite the rapidly approaching end of Rodin's term, there is no indication from the search committee that the intensive and secretive selection process is either ahead of or behind schedule.
Sara Beale, a law professor and search committee member at Duke, noted that each search is unique.
"It's very personalized in each case," Beale said. "Each search develops at its own pace."
Indeed, Penn search committee head and Chairman of the University Board of Trustees James Riepe wrote in an e-mail that "the Duke and Rice decisions did not impact our search."
However, with three high-profile universities looking to fill their most coveted positions at the same time, overlaps seemed inevitable.
"I would say the odds [of overlapping candidate pools] are pretty high given the similarities of the three schools," said James Pomerantz, a professor of psychology and Rice search committee member.
The delicate task of picking a university president often comes down to finding a good match on behalf of the school and the candidate.
"Duke is an excellent school, Penn is an excellent school, but some people might prefer one over the other," Pomerantz said.
Pomerantz cited school size and location as two factors that might sway potential candidates toward one school.
Even with Rice's head start in the presidential race, Pomerantz felt Rice had no distinct advantage over Duke or Penn.
"You search as long as it takes to find the right person," Pomerantz said. "The key is to get the right person, and the timing is secondary," he added.
The search committees start by considering hundreds of names gathered by the committee or suggested by outsiders.
"We wrote to every single person that was nominated" by a member of the Rice community, Pomerantz said.
"We were up well above 500 [names], perhaps as high as 700," he added.
However, the numbers quickly dwindled to about 200 that the committee was "really interested in," and then to about 60 after those candidates were seriously considered.
Duke's search began with similarly high numbers.
According to Duke spokesman David Jarmul, "There were more than 200 names put forth."
Even with the assistance of professionals, the work is time-consuming.
Like Penn -- who enlisted the help of executive search firm Isaacson, Miller in the presidential search -- Rice also hired an outside agency.
Pomerantz noted the advantages of working with an executive search firm.
"The search firms can do a lot of screening for you and can sometimes get a more frank response from a candidate than a search committee member can," Pomerantz said.
The candidates often "have pre-existing relationships" with the search firms, he added.
However, working with a search firm can have its downside.
"The search firm can end up lulling the members of the search committee into sort of a state where they let the search firm do the work for them," Pomerantz said.
With only four and a half months of searching behind Penn's search committee, Steel is confident that the University will eventually see success.
"I think Penn will get a great president," Steel said. "I have a lot of confidence in the school and the committee and the Board of Trustees."
