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(04/10/01 9:00am)
Naatak, a word that means drama in the Hindi language, took on a new meaning in the fall of 1999 here at Penn.
That's when Anita Sreedhar, now a College sophomore, and Wharton and Engineering sophomore Hareesh Chander collaborated to create a highly novel group -- the first South Asian theater troupe on campus.
And their group, PenNaatak, completed its first show as a formal Performing Arts Council member last week. But the journey to becoming a recognized theater group has not been easy. The path began with Sreedhar and Chander's simple idea to bring a new type of theater to Penn.
South Asian theater exists only at a few colleges and organizations across the nation. With performance topics ranging from the serious, like exploring the identity of second generation children living in America, to the comical, like bohemian rhapsodies about Indian food, the versatile group plans to expand even more in the future.
Sreedhar, the PenNaatak chairwoman, grew up in Malawi and had been active in theater at her Austin, Texas high school, but had never performed in South Asian theater. While Indian cinema is ubiquitous, and dance and music are popular, theater is a genre that has had difficulty thriving, according to Sreedhar. So Sreedhar and friend Chander threw around the idea of performing South Asian theater at Penn.
"If there isn't one, why don't we start it?" Sreedhar recalls thinking.
The task turned out to be much more daunting than either could have envisioned.
In the fall of 1999, the group had to undergo the standard steps involved in creating a performance group, before even enduring the actual process of choosing a play to perform and rehearse. To receive rehearsal and performance space, the group had to apply for admission to PAC.
Yet, before becoming a member of PAC, a group must put on a performance, to test the legitimacy of the group.
Without funding or any adequate performance space, Sreedhar, Chander and a few other recruits set to work in search for a play not written in Hindi. The group spent October through December desperately trying to find a playwright whose work they could showcase. Finally, they came across Indian playwright Mahesh Dattani and his play TARA.
"We used to rehearse in the High Rise South Rathskellar for our first performance," TARA actor and Engineering senior Tarun Pall said. "And we still make heavy use of lounges in these buildings for practice."
But after all the setbacks, the group hailed its first performance a success.
"Anita is highly motivated, strong, independent, fun and a wonderful director," TARA actress and College sophomore Avani Shah says. "And that's what made the show such a success."
PenNaatak's most recent show, the Asian Theater Fes, came after the group was finally initiated into PAC. The one and only performance was last Friday. Illustrating the group's ability to perform it's own work, the show's four pieces were all written and directed by students.
Pieces ranged from serious issues plaguing families to the more humorous, such as "An Elementary Guide to Dating."
College junior Sandy Foo commented that the piece entitled R.A.W. (Raunchy Asian Women) was "very different and straight-forward."
Though it focuses mainly on South Asian theater, the group embraces anyone who is willing to put in the effort. A Jewish actress performed in TARA, eastern Asians acted in the festival last week and an Italian American wrote and directed a monologue in the Asian Theater festival.
"We call ourselves a South Asian theater troupe, but we are not limited to performing and working with South Asian Americans," Sreedhar says.
PenNaatak hopes to eventually encourage a network in which the South Asian theater troupes at Georgetown and Princeton universities, along with a non-profit group called Disha, perform together and support each other with resources.
Despite all the hours spent researching, rehearsing and attempting to receive PAC funding, "it is really gratifying," Sreedhar said. "[There is] a warmer environment for students through performance. [The shows] bring people together. That's what theater does."
(03/01/01 10:00am)
Visitors to the University's homepage may have noticed something new -- the option to search www.upenn.edu with Google.
Previously, Internet users were only able to search the site with AltaVista, but now they can pick either engine.
According to University computing officials, the change is in response to student demands for Google.
"We're providing a link to Google because our users have asked for it," said Randall Couch, of the Information Systems and Computing Communications Group. "It would be a disservice not to respond to that concern."
The default search technology, licensed from AltaVista, is under the University's control. The new option makes use of an index Google compiled by searching Penn pages and provides to the University free of charge.
"We don't have control over how often [the index] is updated or how complete it is," Couch said.
According to Couch, the University was in negotiations with Google for a more customized search, but the price tag -- hundreds of thousands of dollars per year -- seemed an unwise use of University funds.
"We would've preferred to do something with a tighter linkage with them," Couch said. "This is the closest thing we could find to a win-win situation."
Google has indexed the sites of hundreds of universities, both American and foreign, for its University Search service. While the basic service is free, paid versions give universities more control over customization and do not include links to Google on the results pages.
While Penn has a link to Google on its homepage, none of the other seven Ivy League schools name the company providing searches on their main pages.
But all -- including Penn -- credit the company on the results page or a dedicated search page.
"It's not a corporate sponsorship," Couch said. "There's no quid pro quo here."
"Google really was born on a university campus, so our founders have always had an allegiance to providing this kind of tool to universities," said Cindy McCaffrey, Google's vice president of corporate communications.
McCaffrey could not provide an estimated cost for a customized search or an explanation of why, as Couch said, the price varied considerably during negotiations.
According to an online ISC document dated October 10, 2000, "Google seems to return a more appropriate result set to the average tool user than [AltaVista]."
(02/21/01 10:00am)
Harvard Professor Harvey C. Mansfield is known among his students for a no-nonsense, non-inflationary grading policy that has earned him the name "C-minus Mansfield."
This semester, Mansfield has changed his ways.
Mansfield will begin to give his students two grades. The first will be unofficial and will reflect how he believes his students are actually performing in his course. The second and official mark, will stem from the line of thinking that most of his colleagues take -- one that often leads to the average grade in of B-plus.
Although I enjoy that Mansfield is giving the institution a try, I would have hoped he would have clung to his old ways, for the sake of his students.
Historically, exams have served to test a student's knowledge of a given subject and award them a mark to allow comparison between students.
The status quo brings a different scenario. In a world of motivated and successful learners, professors -- particularly here at Penn -- look to the exam as a way to distribute the grades they think should be given and to create their beloved bell curve.
Professors, in this pursuit, use their midterms and finals to search for ways to stump, or trick, their pupils. This ensures that only a few will come out with near perfect scores, and the rest of us are left wondering when, if ever, they taught us the material that they tested us on.
Not surprisingly, this phenomenon occurs in all four of the undergraduate schools. One nursing student recalled a TA who created the majority of her exams from old test banks full of material that was not covered or emphasized, in her own lectures and assigned readings.
In this case, the exam never came close to measuring what knowledge had been advanced because it hadn't even been created in the same vain of the subject matter.
Wharton, College and Engineering students face similar quandaries, including the major problem of dealing with poor teaching on a regular basis.
Here the question of the professor or lecturer's inability to educate is avoided by giving an A to the highest exam scores in the course, regardless of whether that score is a 90 percent or a 50 percent. Professors never have the motivation to critically analyze their material or the way in which they communicate that substance.
This type of arbitrary grade assignment leads to grade inflation, especially at Ivy League institutions. The problem is then compounded when professors use a curve to distribute final scores around their artificial ranges.
When I came to Penn, I knew that I was entering a rigorous academic institution and would be taking classes with peers who all excelled in high school. What I didn't expect was the "curve."
The curve that plagues college freshman and upperclassmen alike comes in many forms.
Apparently, the professors of the recently-created College 002 course feel that the following clearly explains the way in which they will distribute grades to their students:
"Letter grades will be awarded based on the usual mapping from numerical grade totals."
I hope their lectures aren't as "clear."
Statistics 102 this semester spells out this collegiate institutional monster on its syllabus:
"Grading curve: the number of As will be around 20-30 percent, Bs around 30-40 percent -- the total not to exceed 60 percent. There is no fixed percentage for the mix of Cs, Ds and Fs."
After suffering this for two and half years of my Penn education, I must implore every professor to end the use of the antiquated curve, or any tool that doesn't accurately reflect the knowledge a student has learned over the course of the semester.
Teachers need to begin a process that will shake the evaluation system of higher education. Professors, teach the knowledge that you would like your students to absorb. Lay it on the table. Strive to impart more than just this core set of information, but don't spend your exams attempting to terrify your students with the "what-ifs" of what might show up buried in an exam.
If we've learned what you've taught us, we deserve our grade.
Students, similarly, must be willing to accept the grade that they earn.
I don't ask you for overnight trust that professors will hold up to their end of the bargain, and vice versa, but as students, we must demand to be tested on the material we are taught.
Let's work together to bring learning back to the classroom.
(02/15/01 10:00am)
While Penn has been working hard to revitalize the western end of campus, officials also say they are several steps closer to expanding in a new direction -- east.
The University has made plans to acquire the United States Postal Service property to the east of Penn's campus, which is scheduled to become available in the next two or three years.
The Postal Service currently uses the equivalent of four large city blocks for its regional headquarters, post office, parking and loading.
Fourteen acres of land are located south of Walnut street. An additional nine acres -- including the 30th Street Post Office -- are located north of Walnut.
This kind of space is hard to come by in urban Philadelphia, and the cost of purchasing the land will most likely be in the tens of millions of dollars.
"We are very interested in acquiring some or all of the properties," Executive Vice President John Fry said. "We know we're close to making the deal at this point."
"We're in discussions with the PostalService, the city of Philadelphia, Drexel University and other key parties," said Jack Shannon, the University's managing director of economic development. "All the parties recognize that there is a tremendous opportunity that exists along the Schuylkill River. We're very excited about working together to maximize this opportunity."
For an urban campus pressed for space, these lands would be a very welcome addition.
For the last 30 years, Penn has advanced slowly west, eventually stopping development at 40th Street. Officials promised the West Philadelphia community that the University would not expand any further westward than the 40th Street corridor.
Drexel University lies to the north and health care facilities restrain Penn to the south, leaving the University only one direction to possibly expand -- toward the Schuylkill.
"I think it's very clear that the future expansion of this campus lies to the east," Fry said. "There's no doubt about that. For those who fear a westward migration of Penn, this campus is heading east."
The University hopes to use the land for "selective academic expansion, particularly for our engineering and sciences," Fry said.
Bio-technology enterprises and "high-technology-oriented space" are also planned for the area, Shannon said.
Retail and commercial ventures and possibly some "market-rate apartment units," will also share space on the property, according toShannon.
The goal of the anticipated project is to "make the entire area feel like a new neighborhood for the city of Philadelphia," he said.
"It will be a combination of additional academic and recreational space," Shannon said.
The land will not become available until late 2003 or early 2004, when the Postal Service -- after more than 10 years of searching for a new location --will vacate the 30th Street spot to move closer to the Philadelphia International Airport.
Construction and development will begin soon after the Postal Service leaves the property.
(12/07/00 10:00am)
As Penn women trade Locust Walk for the corporate fast lane, many face the question of what to wear on interviews, company tours and other corporate functions.
To help them, Wharton Women held its second annual "Suit Yourself" Style Show in Harrison College House's Rooftop Lounge Tuesday night.
About 50 undergraduate students, most of whom are in Wharton, attended the 30-minute fashion show.
Brooks Brothers, Ma Jolie and Nine West supplied the fashions for the seven models, who strutted down the makeshift runway to dance beats.
The Wharton models and Wharton Women board members were determined to prepare Penn females for the job search.
"We found among ourselves that we don't know what's business casual and business formal," said Wharton senior Juliana Lin, the outgoing communications chair and secretary of Wharton Women. "And we had a lot of students asking us what's appropriate dress."
The style show featured business casual and business formal attire, along with a few cocktail dresses.
Two hosts supplied the audience with descriptions of the outfits and instructions on when to wear them.
Students attending the event said they found the fashion tips helpful.
"I'm not in Wharton," College sophomore Mayuko Endo said. "But, actually, I'm interested in a lot of the same careers... thinking about interviews, I could totally use this information."
Other style-minded attendees came for the clothing.
"I want to get into the fashion industry -- merchandising and buying," Wharton sophomore and incoming Wharton Women Communications Chair Alexis Decerbo said. "I came because I like to keep abreast of the styles."
Similarly, College freshman Zoya Bozhko said she came, in part, because she's always wanted to be a fashion designer.
"It's a hobby of mine," she said, adding that she also attended to get involved in Wharton Women and take a break from her studies. There are several College and Engineering students among the organization's 125 members, although 85 percent are Wharton undergraduates.
The Wharton Women who planned the event said they got an education themselves.
"Asking for [loaned clothing and] donations has definitely been a learning experience because we had to pitch the product we were trying to sell," Planning Committee member and Wharton freshman Diana Ricketti said, comparing the fashion show planning to a "mini-business."
"It's good to come together to mix the love for fashion and business," added Wharton freshman Sona Karia, a model at the event. "And hopefully in the future we'll be wearing these clothes."
The event was part of Wharton Women's life skills series, which encourages students to develop social skills applicable to the business world, like networking, tennis, golf and etiquette.
After the fashion show, the organization raffled off prizes ranging from Auntie Anne's pretzel-making kits to gift certificates from Brooks Brothers.
(11/28/00 10:00am)
I'm stuffed. Over Thanksgiving weekend, I gorged on turkey, cranberry sauce and squash. I also ingested enough advice to last until my retirement.
Like many seniors who went home for the holiday, I overloaded on discussions about post-graduation plans. At the meal table, I think I heard the question "And what will you be doing next year?" more often than "Can you please pass the gravy?"
At first, starved for some guidance, I welcomed career counseling. But as every conversation turned to the topic of life after college, hunger subsided and nausea kicked in.
Lounging at the table with me after Thanksgiving dinner, my grandfather advised me to pick a job I loved. In his lifetime, he learned that passion is worth more than money. Grandpa is an academic whose love of philosophy paid off unexpectedly in the '60s when the University of Michigan asked him to apply his knowledge of logic to a new idea that took off -- the computer.
On Friday, I consulted the people who know me better than I know myself -- my high school buddies. We needed to do some serious powwowing about next year, so we retreated to the war room: Denny's, the only all-night eatery in suburbia.
My friends represent a smorgasbord of unique plans: chemical engineering, education, sports journalism, publishing and computer science.
I, on the other hand, having operated this semester on the philosophy that enjoying the fleeting moments of senior year is far more important than face time with Peggy Curchack, had no plans.
Yet, it was reassuring to know that we all shared the same anxieties. For one thing, our parents had been kneading us like bread for the answers they wanted about our life plans.
And none of us had found comfort in the bittersweet promise of the current golden economy. Since job opportunities are purportedly sprouting like corn, I felt foolish that I'm struggling to find work.
We dissected each person's prospects like professional turkey carvers rooting through a cooked bird -- and came up with lots of bones. Basically, we were no closer to figuring out what it's all about.
Thinking I'd escape the madness in the safe haven of a dark movie theater, on Saturday I accompanied my family to the cineplex to see The Legend of Bagger Vance. The film was about -- what else? -- the meaning of life.
The movie is based on the Bhagavad-Gita, the epic Hindu poem that suggests that one must cease thinking in order to achieve nirvana. I tried this at home with the film in mind, but the repeated mantra that engulfed my consciousness was not Ohm, but "I love you Matt Damon. I love you Matt Damon."
By Sunday, I was so crammed full of theories on the meaning of life and promising career paths that I felt as sick as a pilgrim overdosing on cornbread.
One thing I knew for certain: The countdown to May is going to be a rough six months.
I'm not asking anyone to hand my future to me on a silver platter. I'm not asking for it to be easy.
And even as I deal with my pre-graduation angst, I had more to be grateful for this Thanksgiving than ever before. I'm in line for a diploma from a top university, and my family and friends are right behind me to blow wind in my sails.
We give thanks for having food on the table, health in our families and love in our lives. Some people don't get to pick. Some people don't have the luxury of flirting with destiny because they're just trying to get through each day. Some people have made it through four years of an Ivy League education in spite of, rather than because of, the experiences life has dealt us.
I might be sick of worrying, but as long as I'm soul-searching instead of merely trying to subsist, I will be thankful. For me, the greatest privilege is getting to choose my own adventure.
(10/20/00 9:00am)
The main message that came out of yesterday's session on working for Internet startups was a positive one: There are plenty of available jobs out there.
In an effort to educate undergraduates on the possibilities within the rapidly expanding Internet job market, five panelists from various dot-coms came to Penn to share their experiences with seniors.
The panel, which was sponsored by Career Services, included representatives from local companies Diginexus, Myentertainer.com, SGC Venture and the New York-based InvestorForce.com.
Both Diginexis and Investor Force have strong Penn connections in that their representatives are alumni.
In 1997, then-Penn students Ari Kusher and Matt Grove laid out the foundations for Diginexus, a software engineering company, from their dorm room on Penn's campus. Now, with a larger office in Center City and 35 additional employees, Kusher and Grove shared their thoughts on how to penetrate the Internet job market.
"Find something you love and then find where it intersects with the industry," Kusher told the students. "When you can identify what it is you want from a job, it makes the process of finding one much easier."
This advice, which was more inspirational than practical, was shared by the other panelists.
"You can get whatever job you want as long as you show passion," says Allison Cohen of InvestorForce.com and a 1992 Wharton alumna. "Do what it takes to get the job you want. Show the employer they need you."
The panelists stressed that there will continue to be huge winners and losers in the ever-changing Internet industry.
"There are many brilliant people with brilliant ideas that just can't make it." said Sara Conte, president of SGC Ventures, a Philadelphia-based Internet consulting firm that focuses on business development for early stage companies. "It's an extremely tough market."
The panelists urged the crowd of undergraduates from the College and the Wharton and Engineering schools to focus on the trends in the industry that apply to their interests and work from there.
Then, just to make sure that the students had a more tangible sense of how to approach the search process, several panelists offered some last remarks.
"Put yourself in a position of not being a student," Michelle Beaudry of Myentertainer.com advised. "Subscribe to local beat sheets and as many free newsletters as possible. Go to Web sites of well-respected venture capital firms and look at their list of portfolio companies."
(09/28/00 9:00am)
Just a few weeks ago, Penn formed a committee to find a new Health System chief executive officer and Medical School dean.
If recent history is anything to go by, this search will be long and pricey, surveying people from all over the country.
But in the end, a Penn person will land the job.
Whether it's the Philadelphia atmosphere, University leadership or Penn's salary offers, academics from other schools simply have not come to Penn in recent years.
The last five major administrative appointees -- for provost, School of Arts and Sciences dean, Engineering School dean, Wharton dean and Law School dean -- were all faculty members at Penn.
Experts say that though institutions typically vary in whether they go internal or external, Penn's recent hirings are unusual.
"The pattern in higher education is typically to go to the outside," said Bruce Alton, a senior consultant for Academic Search Consultation Service.
Bill Bowen of the executive recruiting firm Heidrick & Struggles noted that jobs go to insiders in only about half of searches -- though Penn has gone with the inside guy every time in the past two years.
Now Penn is recruiting faces for what might be their biggest challenge yet -- finding a new leader for the beleaguered Health System. After William Kelley was forced out last February, Peter Traber served as his replacement for less than six months. He then left over the summer to work for a drug company.
After these troubled months, some people wonder whether Penn will be able to draw a leader from another institution. University President Judith Rodin said she will consider candidates from both pools.
However, a source close to the administration said that when a school is in crisis, it is often better to go external -- as was done when Gary Hack arrived in 1996 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to revamp the Graduate School of Fine Arts.
However, it can be logistically difficult to move people from schools where they are established, in areas where they have settled with families.
Rodin acknowledged that it is "complex to move distinguished senior people" from other institutions.
Bioengineering Department Chairman Daniel Hammer -- who sits on the committee to find a vice provost for research -- added that personal issues are increasingly preventing people from changing institutions.
"When push comes to shove, [candidates] think about how difficult it is to move my family," Hammer said.
But even from within, administrative posts are looking less and less attractive to professors.
Hack said that the life of a professor simply is more appealing than the life of a dean -- both at Penn and other institutions.
"The best job at the University is being a faculty member," Hack said. "Most faculty members do not consider a dean being a promotion. They consider it a sacrifice."
Richard Herring, who chaired the committee that named then-Law School Professor Michael Fitts to that school's deanship, said that he knew of at least three cases where internal faculty members did not agree to become candidates until well into the process and after several consuming external searches.
"Quite frequently, people who were initially not candidates became candidates," Herring said. "Well into the process, they were persuaded to change their minds."
Many were glad that people did step up, saying that it helps to have someone already familiar with Penn in a top position.
"I honestly think it's a tribute to the strength of the faculty," Rodin said.
Communications Professor Larry Gross, chair of the Faculty Senate, said that it helps to have someone without the "institutional baggage" of another school. Gross was also on the committee that helped recommend Provost Robert Barchi to his position in the spring of 1999. Before that, Barchi chaired the Neurology and Neuroscience Department in the School of Medicine.
"An internal person has a lot of institutional knowledge that allows them to get going with things quicker," Hack added.
But most said that there was nothing about Penn or its leadership that would turn people off and stop them from coming here.
"Penn is a very attractive institution," Bowen said. "Penn is not viewed in a negative light."
(09/26/00 9:00am)
Silver or electric blue? Internet access or voice activated dialing?
Students at the recently opened Sprint PCS Store on 34th and Walnut streets are faced with a slew of dilemmas.
At the counter, a male student thinks over how many minutes of air time he could possibly use in a given month, while another contemplates the array of cell phones on the far wall.
In its very first weeks of business, hundreds have passed through the doors of this newest retail addition to campus. They are searching for the perfect phone, attuned to their every want and desire -- one that will be both utilitarian and chic.
What sharp electronic gadget should I whip out on in Econ 1, they ask themselves.
A technological revolution is sweeping the nation, and its latest converts are Penn students. Suddenly everybody who's anybody can be seen chatting on a red Nokia phone outside Steinberg-Dietrich while organizing their Friday night on a sleek little Palm Pilot.
With cell phones costing as little as $29 and Palm Pilot prices at around $150, it's getting easier to equip the Penn messenger bag with all the right hardware.
(09/20/00 9:00am)
In the sports world, teams steal each other's superstars all the time.
But academia could see a similar switch as Harvard University searches for a new president -- and perhaps steals a top Penn player.
University President Judith Rodin, as one of the most respected college presidents in the country, seems to be a natural contender for the job. But the Penn alumna has rejected the notion that she would leave to run the Cambridge, Mass. institution.
"I have no interest in being named the president of Harvard," she said. "I think Penn is a more exciting place, with a much more entrepreneurial spirit, and I would not leave here for Harvard."
Harvard President Neil Rudenstine announced his decision to resign in May and will officially step down next June.
"I think [Judith Rodin] would be an obvious candidate," School of Arts and Sciences Dean Samuel Preston said.
Still, Preston added, "I think it's unlikely that Judith would leave Penn for another university presidency."
Engineering Dean Eduardo Glandt said Harvard is liable to look for the same things in its new president as Penn typically has.
"I would imagine that they would want to see the same thing in that person as we would want to see at Penn," he explained, citing vision, scholarship and strategic thinking as crucial.
"This is exactly what we want," he added.
Last fall, Rodin signed a non-binding "letter of agreement" that indicated her intention to remain at Penn for at least the next five years.
After the 1996 election, she was mentioned for various top government appointments, and it's likely that her name will pop up again after November's elections.
Rodin is currently in her seventh year at the University, the average tenure for college presidents nowadays. The Trustees have raised her salary every year since she took the job, and Trustees Chairman James Riepe has attributed that to her consistently strong performance at the top of Penn's administration.
The Harvard search is still in the early stages. In mid-July, the six-member Harvard Corporation, along with three overseers, was charged with identifying Rudenstine's replacement.
"The search is absolutely wide open at this point," Harvard spokesman Joe Wrinn said last week.
Wrinn added that the Harvard Corporation has not yet identified a top list of contenders, nor have any possible candidates been officially notified.
The committee sent 300,000 letters to Harvard faculty, students, staff and alumni to get the Harvard community's take on who the next president should be.
According to Bruce Alton, the senior consultant at the academic headhunting firm Academic Search Consultation Service, these searches typically last around six months -- and are just as likely to yield an internal candidate as an external one.
"Anything's a possibility," he said. "It all depends on the person."
In the past, many of Harvard's presidents have both come from within the university and graduated from Harvard, though Wrinn cautioned that a Harvard background was not a requirement.
"It is not technically a requirement to have attended Harvard," he explained. "In recent memory, however, most have had some affiliation to Harvard."
Speculations that the current provost, Harvey Fineberg, might be called upon for the job have already arisen.
"I have no idea who the Ocandidates' are, but Provost Fineberg would naturally be mentioned; he has been very successful as Provost and is widely liked and respected," Harvard Assistant Provost Sarah Ward said in an e-mail.
Whoever Harvard's president may be, Wald said they need to have vision and a proven record.
Preston said that aside from the obvious qualities of diplomatic skills and vision, Harvard needs to look for a president with stamina.
"Maybe one of the significantly most important elements is makeup," he said. "It's an extremely grueling job."
"What's unique about Harvard is you are more in the spotlight than elsewhere," Preston added.
And Alton summed up the candidates for Harvard's presidency as "God on a good day."
(09/12/00 9:00am)
History has a tendency to repeat itself -- and this time, it's in the form of a search for a Health System chief executive officer and Medical School dean.
Yesterday, the University charged a search committee to find a replacement for Peter Traber, who stepped down from the post in July just months after his appointment.
Psychiatry Department Chairman Dwight Evans will head the 16-member committee, which includes several top Penn administrators.
"We plan for an active, aggressive and successful search," Evans said in a statement. "The UPHS and School of Medicine is deserving of, and we are committed to identifying, the best individual in the country for this position."
Penn administrators have repeatedly said that they are committed to finding one person to run both the Health System and the Medical School.
According to University spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman, the committee has not yet met and no timeline has been set for the search.
Though executive searches typically take three to six months, many recent Penn academic searches have endured for over a year -- and all resulted in the appointment of an internal candidate.
"The University wants to find someone for the position as soon as possible, but it's really important to do this well," Holtzman said.
Traber's tenure as head of the financially-strapped Penn Health System was short-lived. He was appointed interim CEO and Medical School dean in February, after University President Judith Rodin fired longtime CEO William Kelley.
Rodin named him permanent CEO just weeks later, but kept the interim dean title because of internal University regulations requiring a consultative search process for academic appointments.
Then in July, he suddenly stepped down to accept a high-paying research job at a pharmaceutical company.
Executive Vice President John Fry, Engineering School Dean Eduardo Glandt and former Wharton dean Thomas Gerrity will join Evans on the search committee.
"It's really a function of the position, being a combined position," Holtzman said of the high-ranking individuals tapped to serve on the committee.
"It's really necessary to bring together some really prestigious faculty, along with some University officers, and conduct a search from both of those sides," she added.
Robert Martin, who served both Kelley and Traber as chief operating officer, is running the Health System on an interim basis. Arthur Asbury, Traber's deputy Medical School dean, holds the academic post for now.
Neither Evans nor Glandt could say if there was a list of potential candidates at this time.
"Not surprisingly, we will be looking for somebody of great vision who has both the respect of the Medical faculty and the respect of the campus," Glandt said.
"When you see the person, you know it's the person," he said. "Once you have it, you know it's right. Respect of the faculty is the ultimate metric."
In the past, Penn has worked with an executive search firm to help find someone for top posts, and will likely do so again.
"The expectation is that we probably will, but a decision hasn't been made yet," Holtzman said.
Though Traber was appointed as permanent CEO weeks after the formation of a search committee, it was 15 months before Wharton Dean Patrick Harker or Law School Dean Michael Fitts were named. And Provost Robert Barchi took the helm after an exhaustive 13-month search.
All three were internal candidates.
(08/10/00 9:00am)
After a year-long search, Patricia Brennan has been tapped to become Director of Special Services, the division of the University Police Department that provides support to victims of crimes of a sensitive nature.
(07/06/00 9:00am)
There are moments during this Philadelphia summer when I fancy myself the kid the camp bus left behind.
(06/22/00 9:00am)
You may not know who he is or what he does. But chances are you've read something said by Kenneth J. Wildes, Jr., Penn's soon-to-be-departed Director of University Communications, aka Penn's media flack-in-chief.
(06/01/00 9:00am)
It may have taken more than a year, but Eduardo Glandt can finally control the school he's run since 1998.
(05/03/00 9:00am)
Norma Lang will take a year-long sabbatical and then teach at Penn. Nursing School Dean Norma Lang submitted her resignation to University President Judith Rodin on Monday, after leading the school for eight years. Lang announced that she would accept an endowed professorship at the school and return to teaching and research after serving as an administrator for the past 20 years. The resignation will take effect in August, at which time Lang will take a leave of absence for a year before returning to Penn. "Everyone from time to time reexamines where they are in their particular position," Lang said. "The school is in a very good position and it's a good time for me to step down." Under her leadership, the Nursing School's endowment has grown from $5 million to the $25 million it enjoys today. The school also continuously maintains a top ranking in the U.S. World & News Report's rankings, tying for second with Washington University's school this year. And among nursing schools, Penn's Nursing School is the No. 1 recipient of National Institutes of Health funding, receiving $6.3 million dollars in federal grants. With Lang at the helm, the school has pursued a three-tiered mission, developing its strengths in research, teaching and practice. "The University is deeply grateful to Dean Lang for the record of accomplishment the School has achieved under her leadership," Rodin said in a press release. Upon her return, Lang will assume a full-time teaching position. Lang is an expert in health care systems, nursing leadership, the assessment of quality of care and informatics -- a field concerned with the language of nursing. She will also take an active role in guiding undergraduates and will advise seniors. "We're delighted that Norma is staying at the Nursing School," University spokesman Ken Wildes said. "She has a wonderful background and experience that is a great resource for the school, faculty and students." Nursing students and professors praised Lang's accomplishments as a leader within the only undergraduate Ivy League nursing school. "We'll miss her a lot for her contributions to having a visionary scope with a tripartite mission," Nursing Professor Jan Deatrick said. "[Although] they are known for their research and teaching, for an Ivy League school to play a leadership role in nurse practitioning is unique." An interim dean has not been announced, but the press release said a search committee will be assembled soon. Lang has also been responsible for the many interdisciplinary and joint-degree programs conducted with the Engineering School, the Law School and the Wharton School. "We're no longer simply nursing degrees: It's become multifaceted," said Lance Feldman, a Nursing student in the Nursing-Law program and president of Student Nurses at Penn. Feldman praised Lang for her strong involvement with students, citing her willingness to accept criticism and act upon it. Before coming to Penn, Lang headed up the nursing school at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee.
(03/28/00 10:00am)
Perspective: Searching for Diversity As a top-ranked Ivy League university, Penn prides itself on offering an enormous range of classes, an eclectic mixture of activities and a unique learning experience. Yet despite its multi-faceted appeal, one area in which Penn struggles is ensuring that there is diversity among its professors. Penn, like its peer institutions, has been trying for years to recruit minority faculty and retain those that it has. But it faces many challenges, including stiff competition among other universities for highly qualified candidates. In 1996, University President Judith Rodin unveiled a plan allocating $5 million to increase the number of minority students and professors at Penn. But today, as nearly four years of the five-year Minority Permanence Plan have elapsed, the plan's efficacy seems debatable. While significant funding has been provided to schools and departments for minority appointments, the actual increases in African-American and Latino faculty are limited. In 1996, Penn had 25 African-American and Latino professors out of 762 total undergraduate faculty members. And today, the number has increased by a total of five professors. Janiece Primus, a Wharton senior who is African American, said, "I've only had one minority professor in all my time here. I don't think I've ever had a Latino professor." "Education is supposed to be a reflection of a wider world," she continued. "If you look around, America is not a society of older white males." United Minorities Council Chairman Jerome Byam agreed that the lack of minority professors at Penn has had a negative impact on his Penn career. "I can say that it would definitely have been a more positive experience if I had been exposed to more minorities here," the College junior said. · When it debuted in 1996, the plan was designed to promote minority awareness and increase minority presence across the University. Provisions of the plan included funding to supplement different schools and departments to assist them in making minority appointments. The money was also used towards minority programs, student recruitment and graduate fellowships. "Substantial central funds have gone to support the DuBois Collective, La Casa Latina, minority student recruitment, graduate student fellowships and a variety of faculty and student projects sponsored by the Provost's Diversity Fund," said Jennifer Baldino, a top aide to Rodin. Since 1996, the University has sought $20 million through fundraising in addition to the $5 million fund to create a permanent endowment specifically for minority permanence. Baldino said the $20 million goal had not yet been achieved, "but we are actively pursuing potential contributors." Individual departments can apply through school deans for funding for minority appointments and are also expected to match every dollar received from the University with department finances. Sociology Department Chairman Douglas Massey said the $5 million minority permanence fund has made it a little less difficult to go about recruiting minority faculty. "It made it easier for the dean to give us a line for recruiting knowing that the provost of the University was willing to underwrite the cost for some of that," he said. And English Department Chairman John Richetti agreed, saying that "it has always been easy to get funds to hire minority candidates. We've done a good job over the year, and the deans are definitely eager to help us do that." But the permanence plan clearly has not helped much to actually increase the number of minority faculty members. Since 1996, the total number of African-American faculty in the undergraduate schools has changed from 19 to 20. And the number of Latino professors has gone from 13 to 17. Some schools, like Engingeering, have not utilized the minority permanence fund at all yet. But Engineering Dean Eduardo Glandt said, "we are cognizant of the fund" and that the school would use it if it had "retention battles to fight." · While acknowledging the progress Penn has made in increasing minority permanence, English Professor Herman Beavers, the director of African American Studies and chairman of the Affirmative Action Council, said that universities like Penn could look harder for minority candidates than they are looking now. "The argument that there are not enough minorities in the pipeline is ridiculous. There are a lot of minority faculty in institutions that are not peer institutions who would do excellent work if they came to Penn," he said. "We don't even consider them." And History Professor Ann Farnsworth-Alvear, who is Latino, said she thought there wasn't a "substantial interest across departments in recruiting and retaining Latino faculty." "My impression is that there has not been any effective change," she said. "I think there should be a discussion across campus that this should be a priority." College senior Leslie Heredia, president of La Asociacion Cultural de Estudiantes Latino Americanos, said she felt there was a lack of Latino professors at Penn and also of professors of color in general. She said having minority professors is particularly important for minority students because it "gives you something to aspire to be." "It's more than just teaching the material," she said. "They are role models and mentors. You can't duplicate that." Yet Beavers conceded that Penn does try to make strong recruitment efforts. "I think we actually do pretty well. We have at least two faculty of color coming this fall from Rutgers and Johns Hopkins," he said, referring to two new Ph.Ds recently hired by the English department for Afro-Caribbean and Afro-American Studies. And Massey said he is looking to bring a Latino professor to his department. He added that his department put a strong emphasis on minority recruitment. "My faculty feels that you can't be a world-ranked department of sociology unless you reflect the diversity of the society you seek to study," he said. Rodin also expressed her vested interest in having minority faculty. "It is crucial to have minority faculty not only as role models for our minority students, but because the value of diversity in education is so significant and minority faculty are extremely important for our non-minority students as well," Rodin said. · Although the actual numbers show scant increases, administrators are quick to point out that minority recruitment is a constant challenge. Many say one major obstacle in recruiting is that there is a small pool of candidates who are sought after by many institutions. Rodin expressed her commitment to the plan while noting, "It continues to be a significant challenge as the pool is thin and our peer institutions are equally committed to recruiting minority faculty." Penn falls roughly in the middle of its peer institutions in terms of minority faculty. Harvard University has 10 African-American and 13 Latino professors out of a total 613 undergraduate faculty members. And Columbia University has higher numbers with 17 African-American and 21 Latino professors from 632 undergraduate faculty members. Harvard Assistant Dean for Academic Advising Elizabeth Doherty said that while the school does not have a minority permanence plan in place like Penn, it does offer funding to departments for minority hires. "In cases where the department lacks the resources to do [recruiting], there is funding available at the president's office," she said. With top-ranked universities all battling for the same scholars, Penn can't always snag the professors it wants. And it sometimes loses the professors it has. Bernard Lentz, director of Institutional Research and Analysis, noted that minority faculty are in high demand. "A person gets an offer from another university, and we try to go out and counter that offer," he said. But he added that "people who are highly sought after -- they are the stars who can move and go as they want to." Beavers cited Houston Baker, a former Penn English professor, as an example of a prestigious African-American scholar who left the University. Baker accepted an offer at Duke University because his wife was also offered a position there. Yet Richetti said that Penn was not to blame for Baker's leaving. "I don't think he left because of any lack of resources," he said. "He had been here 25 years. It was time for a change." Beavers said he himself had also received an attractive offer by another university, but decided against it. "The University responded quickly to my offer," he said, "and they showed clearly that they wanted me to stay."
(03/27/00 10:00am)
Only 25 percent of top penn administrators are female. The percentage at other Ivy schools is comparable. Each day, Vice President for Development and Alumni Relations Virginia Clark checks her numbers. With the University typically slated to take in $300 million a year in donations and gifts, Clark and her staff are responsible for a guarantee: that Penn can absorb $850,000 a day for 365 days. For Clark, the high-ranking job has meant weekly traveling, speaking at functions and meeting with a hefty pool of Penn's 225,000 alumni around the world. It may seem taxing, but Clark is just doing her job, one that has secured her a top spot in the University's senior planning committee. Together with only five other senior-ranking females at the University, Clark is one of the most powerful women at Penn. Currently, women like Clark fill a quarter percent of the top-ranking posts in the Penn administration -- a statistic similar to that of the other Ivy League schools. But none of the other schools has taken on the number of search committees Penn has in recent years, where opportunities may have arisen to bring more women to top posts. Despite seven major searches for top administrative positions, the number of female administrators at the University has remained relatively stagnant over the past three years. Standing alongside Clark at the top are University Secretary Rose McManus; Affirmative Action Executive Director Valerie Hayes; Vice President for Government, Community and Public Affairs Carol Scheman; Vice Provost for University Life Valarie Swain-Cade McCoullum; and University President Judith Rodin. The other top-flight women at the University include three of the 12 University deans: Annenberg School for Communication Dean Kathleen Hall Jamieson, Graduate School of Education Dean Susan Fuhrman and Nursing School Dean Norma Lang. That leaves Penn with six women on its 20-member senior planning committee and three female deans out of 12. With few notable exceptions, the majority of the women are in posts that do not receive much on-campus attention from students. Though the numbers and visibility seem low, Penn isn't alone -- the percentages of top women are small at most major colleges and universities. "We do an awfully good job of looking for women, but we and everyone else needs to do better," McManus said. At Princeton University, five out of that school's 24 officers are women. At Cornell University, six of the 23 executives are women, while at Dartmouth College, only one of the 10 senior officers is a woman. And Penn is the only Ivy with a woman as the school's permanent president. During the past three years, the University has searched for seven major administrative positions: a Law School dean, Wharton School dean, Engineering School dean, School of Arts and Sciences dean, College of Arts and Sciences dean, University secretary and provost. Though all of those committees interviewed women for the job, only one position -- University secretary -- was given to a woman. According to the final reports last year, the search committee for the provost considered 165 candidates, 37 of whom were women. The Wharton dean search committee of last year reviewed 213 candidates and 18 women. The Engineering dean search committee came up with similar numbers, reviewing the credentials of 211 candidates, 19 of whom were women. And the most recent Law dean search committee considered 99 candidates, including 23 women. Despite the low numbers, administrators and University Trustees stress that Penn is gender-blind in its search process, pointing to other reasons why the number of women interviewed by Penn is, in all cases, paltry. Elsie Sterling Howard, the outgoing president of Penn's General Alumni Society, suggested that the current pool of women is low both in academia and Fortune 500 companies, areas from which deans and administrators are often selected. At Penn, she said, "If there were a woman as good as or better than the other male candidates, I would think the woman would get the position without a doubt." Women today represent 11.9 percent of corporate officers in America's 500 largest companies, according to an annual census published by Catalyst, a non-profit research organization that aims to advance women in the workplace. "Higher education, in my experience, hasn't been particularly enlightened by women," Scheman noted. "When I look at my colleagues in other institutions, the vast majority of people with my title are men." Added McManus: "I think the net has been cast as wide as possible -- Penn's outreach for female candidates is definitely there." Others point to the historic differences in opportunity among men and women in the top ranks. "In leadership positions there have always been more men," Fuhrman said. "For most of us, that's the way life has always been." NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell, a 1967 College of Women graduate and University Trustee, added, "I think it's always difficult with these search committees for new deans because most often it's men doing the selecting." One top member of the administration, who wished to remain anonymous, said many candidates for deanships -- both men and women -- refuse the offer because "being a dean is not always an attractive position. Many turn it down because it forces you to let go of your research, writing and teaching." While Rodin may be known to publicly push for the advancement of women, the rules of the search process preclude her from playing an active role. Though she says she pushes committees to specifically consider women for the job, Rodin does not participate directly in the search process. "When it's a formal search committee, I always strenuously ask the committee to search all over the country particularly for women or members of minority groups," Rodin said. "I think this is a particularly gender-friendly administration that tries to get it right more often than not," she added. Indeed, Penn has established a number of organizations dedicated to the advancement of women at the top, including the Association of Women Faculty and Administrators, the Trustees Council of Penn Women and, here on campus, the Women in Leadership Series. And for now, the women who do sit at the top say they are proud to be where they are. "[The female deans] haven't even talked much about being women here because we aren't uncomfortable in the slightest," Fuhrman said. "We certainly do not feel isolated."
(03/10/00 10:00am)
With William Kelley ousted as chief executive officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System and dean of the Medical School three weeks ago, Penn officials said they hope to soon begin looking for a replacement. "We are thinking through the strategic options for the health care system and the search for a full-time CEO and dean," Provost Robert Barchi said. "Hopefully, that decision will be made at some time in the near future." Chief of Medicine Peter Traber is serving as interim CEO and dean and will remain in that role until a successor is named. Traber has expressed interest in taking the position permanently and Barchi said yesterday he will likely be a candidate. University President Judith Rodin made it clear that there is no formal timetable for the search to start, noting only that she will "move as expeditiously on a search as is appropriate for the Health System." According to Kevin Butler, the managing director of the health care division of Heidrick and Struggles -- an executive search firm with which Penn has worked in the past -- a typical search for a health system CEO takes anywhere from three to six months. "When a search works like clockwork, it is a 90- to 125-day process," he said. "But university searches are a lot more challenging." The process of choosing a candidate to run an academic medical center is like that of most other administrative searches. Each candidate will undergo a background check and a committee will evaluate the hopefuls before making a final recommendation to the president. At Penn, the five most recent major academic searches have taken more than a year each to complete, and all ultimately yielded internal selections. It took more than 15 months before Law School Dean Michael Fitts and Wharton School Dean Patrick Harker were appointed this spring. The search that landed Barchi as provost took more than 13 months and Eduardo Glandt and Samuel Preston were named deans of the Engineering School and the School of Arts and Sciences, respectively, after still-longer searches. And the process that brought Kelley from the University of Michigan in the summer of 1989 took about two years from start to finish. But the narrow pool of candidates eligible to run an academic health system can make recruiting even more challenging, as those considered must have experience managing research and educational programs in addition to overseeing day-to-day patient care. And they also must be willing to leave their current jobs. In Penn's case, the selection process is further compounded by the Health System's current financial problems. A new manager must have the financial skills -- and also the willingness -- to inherit a health system that has lost $300 million over the past three years. But while those people are few and far between, they are certainly out there, said David Shalbot, the managing director of executive search firm Korn/Ferry International's health care practice. "They are turnaround people and they are not exactly nurturing," he said. "They are people who love a challenge and have the skills to take it on." Shabot added that the prestige of running the University's health system -- which is the second-largest in the region -- and highly ranked medical school is another attraction of the job. In the meantime, Traber remains at the helm, flanked by a a leadership team of top University officials and Hunter Group management consultants. The Hunter Group became advisors to the Health System last summer, recommending a number of cost-cutting initiatives, including the elimination of more than 2,800 positions. Penn invited the group back this spring to continue helping with its remediation effort.
(03/08/00 10:00am)
After 15 months, Judith rodin finally appointed a new Law dean. What exactly is taking the administration so long? And in each of those cases, the Rodin administration took more than a year -- and as many as 16 months -- to settle on a candidate. But, we ask, what exactly is taking so long? We've noted before that it is important that Penn take the time to get someone qualified to fill a vacant post. And in several cases, the winning candidate was, at first, reluctant to take the job. Nevertheless, the very lengths of these searches -- which tend to run about six months everywhere else -- are unacceptable. As best illustrated by the School of Arts and Sciences several years ago, schools can stagnate in the absence of permanent leadership. Strategic planning stalls, donors hold back their funds without a dean's vision to support and faculty become increasingly frustrated over time. An interim dean or provost is usually no more than a bandage, able to keep a school together but unable to advance it along any long-term trajectory. It makes little sense that two deans chosen in the past few months -- Wharton's Patrick Harker and Engineering's Eduardo Glandt -- were selected only after many months of service as interim dean. We also fail to see why it took more than a year to pull Fitts from the pack if he was a highly esteemed candidate from the beginning. The lack of transparency in the search process leaves us with more questions than answers. We don't know how many candidates turned down the jobs before the final announcements. And we don't know what role individual personalities -- both on the search committee and in the administration -- play in the selection of new officials. But we do know that the length of these searches are a problem. Presently, Penn has only one major administrative vacancy -- that of the Health System CEO and Medical School dean. With the Law search complete, the administration should take a hard look at what it is doing to unnecessarily prolong these searches -- and what can be done to make them more efficient.
