The University announced Tuesday that Marjorie Jeffcoat, dean of the School of Dental Medicine, will step down from her position on July 1. She will be replaced by Interim Dean Thomas Sollecito until a permanent replacement is found.
Jeffcoat has served as the dean since 2003 and is credited with strengthening the school's academic and financial standing. After stepping down she will return to teaching and conducting research as a tenured faculty member in the Department of Periodontics.
"After five years that she has accomplished much of what she wanted to do at the helm of the dental schools she wants to return with gusto to her research agenda," said Provost Ron Daniels, calling Jeffcoat an "extraordinarily accomplished researcher."
During her time as dean, she enhanced the curriculum, faculty, and research initiatives, Daniels said. She was able to broaden the University's research portfolio in a time of shrinking National Institutes of Health budgets.
Jeffcoat also emphasized the role of community service in the school, overseeing the creation of the Penn Smiles program that provides dental care to West Philadelphia children.
Daniels added that she rescued the school from "significant budgetary problems" that plagued the school prior to her arrival by reversing long-standing debt and annual deficits, and took the school through the process of accreditation last year. He called Penn Dental one of the "best schools" in the country.
Prior to coming to Penn, Jeffcoat served as assistant dean of research and professor and chairwoman of the department of periodontics at the University of Alabama School of Dentistry.
She taught periodontology for 10 years at Harvard University, where she earned her graduate degree and was a research fellow. She earned her undergraduate degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The search committee to replace Jeffcoat will be headed by Arthur Rubenstein, executive vice president for the University of Pennsylvania Health System and Dean of the School of Medicine. Daniels said the search, which will look for someone who can "take the school to the next level both nationally and internationally," will be conducted both internally and externally.
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