Though University President Amy Gutmann began the first two days of her term out of her conference room as workers scrambled to ready her office, she wasted no time in getting to work.
Days after her July 1 starting date, the smell of fresh paint still lingers in Gutmann's office as she continues her work as Penn's eighth president. After a transition period that lasted several months, during which she regularly met with key figures at the University, Gutmann was eager to get to work.
"I've been talking to people and getting to know people for months now," Gutmann said. "I've been doing so much of that that there's no real big surprise left."
And Gutmann has little time for surprises. Penn is buzzing with searches to fill positions across the University, and Gutmann must work to select an interim provost who will be ready to serve when current Provost Robert Barchi departs in August for Thomas Jefferson University.
Along with the interim provost -- whom she plans to select within the next 10 days -- Gutmann will work to find an executive vice president by the end of the summer, closely followed by a dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, a vice president for development and alumni relations, and a permanent provost.
Before she came to Penn, Gutmann selected an executive search firm to assist with the search for vice president for development and alumni relations. She has already posted information about the position of executive vice president in anticipation of selecting a candidate by the close of the summer.
Gutmann plans to begin a search for a permanent provost in September, following a summer of assembling a search committee. The search for the dean of SAS has been underway for a few months now, and Gutmann hopes to make an announcement in mid-fall.
In addition to filling out her leadership team, Gutmann is faced with the task of planning her inauguration. A week of academic panels, a service day and a concert for students will lead up to Gutmann's Oct. 15 inauguration ceremony. One of the highlights will be an academic symposium organized by Gutmann herself around the theme of "rising to the challenges of a diverse democracy in the 21st century."
"The symposium ... is going to be open to all students, staff and faculty, as well as all the outside guests who will come," Gutmann said. "It will really showcase Penn's strengths."
Also making the journey from Princeton is Joann Mitchell, who worked with Gutmann while she served as the university's provost and who is now her chief of staff at Penn.
"It's been very busy," Mitchell said of her first few days in the president's office. "I think I've been a little bit surprised, although I'm not quite sure why. I should have been prepared for the fact that we've been very busy."
"We've had very full days, but it's been interesting, exciting and really has set a good stage," she added.
Though Gutmann has no shortage of tasks to complete in the immediate future, she retains an overarching vision for Penn which has shaped her first few days in office. Armed with a strong background in political science, Gutmann plans to put her work and theory into practice at Penn.
"I am ready to start developing Penn's mission, moving forward from an outstanding base," Gutmann said. "My own career has been devoted to exploring how important education in general, and higher education in particular, is to a flourishing democracy -- and I think Penn is uniquely positioned to show how important higher education is to moving our democracy forward, and democracy around the world forward in the years to come."
Though Gutmann has yet to put in a full week at Penn -- due to the July Fourth holiday -- she has already formulated and acted upon a cohesive goal of exploring Penn's potential role in the advancement of democracy.
"You can see how coming to Penn and starting is the logical sequel to what I've been working on for so many years and what I've been doing teaching and research on," Gutmann said. "I've been teaching and writing about democracy and the role of education in democracy, and now I get to actually lead the institution that I think symbolizes what higher education can contribute to a great democracy."
Gutmann hopes to start educating students at Penn right away and views the upcoming election as an opportunity to engage and inform students across campus in politics.
"We want to educate our students in the fullest sense to be responsible citizens and leaders of a democratic world," Gutmann said. "You can't be a responsible citizen or a leader of the democratic world if you're not engaged in what's happening in the world."
In addition to spurring campus-wide discussion about the upcoming election, Gutmann hopes to acquaint herself with students at the University.
Gutmann plans to begin "meeting with all the student groups and going around to the different college houses and getting to know the students," she said. "That's going to be a very high priority in the first months of the semester."
Though Gutmann works a full day in College Hall followed by additional work at home -- she is residing in an apartment in Center City until renovations on her residence at 3812 Walnut St. are completed -- Mitchell said that Gutmann retains the same work ethic and personality for which she was elected to the presidency.
"I haven't really noticed a tremendous difference" since Gutmann took office, Mitchell said. "I see somebody who is ... committed to trying to do absolutely everything she can to advance the mission of an already great university."
Barchi also noted that Gutmann's extensive preparation over the past several months has allowed her to immediately attack important issues at Penn.
"It certainly is fair to say that she's hit the ground running," Barchi said. "She has got basically two or three jobs at once," he said of Gutmann's juggling presidential responsibilities while still searching for key members of her leadership team.
"I know that she in particular is focusing on making sure that her message and her mission is clear and that she's moving aggressively to work on the various searches that are open right now -- and that's a priority of hers," Barchi said.
Amid all the planning, searching, phone calls and meetings, Gutmann has still found time to reflect on her first few days at Penn.
"It's really great to be here, and I've been able -- because of how receptive people have been -- to get a lot done in the first three days, even with the Fourth of July in between," she said. "I've gotten to know people quite well, so I'm really eager for the students to come back so I can have a lot of meetings with them."
