Although it has only been three weeks since new Dean of Admissions Eric Furda took over, changes are already evident in the Admissions Office.
Furda, who began July 1, appointed two new vice-deans to serve as his seconds-in-command and has "restructured" the department to be more streamlined and efficient, he said.
"Specifically, what I wanted to achieve with a restructuring of the office was ... accountability at each level of the organization," he said, adding that this concern led to his decision to hire Quenby Mott as vice dean and director of admissions and David Phillips as vice dean of admissions and director of operations and management systems. Neither position previously existed.
"The former structure wasn't as efficient as it needs to be in the 21st century, [when offices are] using technology and always remembering the human contact," said Mott, who also started July 1. Phillips will begin his new role in mid-August.
Compared to last year, Furda said, "Every individual is having some type of change to their dossier."
Besides organizational changes, there has been high personnel turnover in the Admissions Office recently. Former Associate Dean of Admissions Bruce Chamberlin's position was "discontinued" in the restructuring, Furda said. About six officers left, most to pursue graduate degrees.
This sort of turnover every few years, according to Furda, is not unusual, because many officers are hired directly from college. Mott said half of those positions have been filled and the office is expecting to fill the remaining positions by mid-August.
And while the organizational structure of the office is the most visible change thus far, admissions consultants said that the biggest changes are yet to come.
"You have to adopt a wait-and-see attitude," said Michele Hernandez, president of Hernandez College Consulting.
"It's fairly normal to reorganize, . [but] suddenly things might be different because the new director has different priorities," she said, pointing out that former dean Lee Stetson's long tenure meant that his personality had a strong influence on the office.
And according to Steve Goodman, another college consultant, the dean's new priorities will only become more pronounced in the coming years.
Because of the steady turnover in admissions, he said, admissions officers whose priorities are in line with the office's new "philosophy" will eventually fill the ranks and change the emphasis of the office.
Some new areas of emphasis, Furda and Mott both said, will be tying in admissions more closely with University President Amy Gutmann's Penn Compact and better integrating demographic data and technology into the admissions process.
According to both Hernandez and Goodman, it will be at least one admissions cycle - from early decision through the waitlists - before the changes will begin to be seen.
