When History professor and former College of Arts and Sciences Dean Richard Beeman returns to Penn in the fall, he will face a much different university than when he left.
With a new president and a new dean of the School of Arts and Sciences arriving within a semester of his return, Beeman will need to deal with much more than the task of readjusting to Penn after a year in England.
At Queen's College, Oxford, Beeman serves as the Harmsworth professor of American History -- "one of the most prestigious visiting chairs at Oxford," History Department Chairman Jonathan Steinberg said.
Beeman will begin teaching full time in spring 2005 -- and will come back with a fresh outlook as he enthusiastically returns to teaching at Penn.
"During the last 10 years of my life at Penn, most of which has been spent being a dean of one sort or another, I spent most of my time in meetings," Beeman wrote in an e-mail interview. "This year at Oxford, where I have been teaching and returning to my former life as a full-time scholar, has been a wonderful tonic."
Beeman's return will be marked by widespread administrative changes, including the entrance of a new University president and the exit of School of Arts and Sciences Dean Samuel Preston.
"I have heard great things about Amy Gutmann -- most notably, that she genuinely cares about undergraduate education," Beeman said. Though Preston's replacement has yet to be named, Beeman warned, "he will be a very, very tough act to follow."
Though Beeman said his teaching experience at Oxford has been refreshing, the Oxford approach to education through intense tutorials is tiring.
"The teaching is very labor intensive since the Oxford system is based on tutorials, where you meet one-on-one with undergraduates for an hour each week," Beeman said. "Each week, each of those undergraduates produces a 10-page essay which I must read and mark prior to our meeting."
"It is very rewarding, but very tiring," he added.
Preston said Beeman's time at Oxford will give him a chance to refresh himself and work on research before he returns to teaching at Penn.
"I think that will have an impact on his classes, and it will enrich his scholarship," Preston said. "That's the point of sabbatical leave."
Steinberg noted that Beeman's time at Oxford presents him with the unique challenge of teaching American history to foreign students.
"Teaching in a foreign environment is immensely educational," said Steinberg, who spent over 30 years teaching at Cambridge University before coming to Penn. He said teaching about America to foreigners is difficult because America is "completely alien to the way that European countries operate."
In addition, Steinberg said Beeman's professorship will help strengthen ties between Oxford and Penn.
Beeman "is of course one very experienced senior administrator," Steinberg said. "One of the things that he will undoubtedly have done ... is make contacts with people."
Though Beeman said he will miss Oxford's students -- whose "parents aren't bugging them about why they are not majoring in something 'practical'" -- he is looking forward to returning to Penn.
"I won't miss the weather -- it is truly miserable," Beeman added.
