Over the Summer . . .

Interim Provost

Deputy Provost Peter Conn, the Andrea Mitchell Professor of English, has been named Interim Provost effective August 2, President Amy Gutmann announced.

A member of Penn's faculty since 1967, Dr. Conn has been Deputy Provost since 1999. He will serve while a consultative search committee is established to find a permanent replacement for Provost Robert Barchi who has become president of Thomas Jefferson University in Center City on September 1. Dr. Barchi had been Penn's provost since 1999 after having spent much of his academic career in Penn's School of Medicine. As a neurologist specializing in neuromuscular diseases he has been supported by NIH funding for three decades. Click here for more.

Vice Provost and Library Director

H. Carton Rogers, III, was named Vice Provost and Director of Libraries this summer, after having served in an interim capacity since April 2003. He has responsibility for 14 centrally administered libraries on campus (excluding Law), the Center for Judaic Studies Library in Center City, and Penn's Digital Library on the web. Click here for more.

Up in the U.S. News' Rankings

Penn rose from being in a tie for fifth place last year to occupying fourth place in the 2005 rankings, with Harvard and Princeton still sharing the top slot and Yale ranked third among the 248 American universities in the National Universities group. The U.S. News & World Reports' rankings are released in a book, America's Best Colleges, and in their August 30 college issue of the magazine, and online, at www.usnews.com.

Wharton is at the top of the list of best business schools, with five of its specialties ranked #1: finance, insurance, management, marketing and real estate. Entrepreneurship was ranked #2, with accounting, international business, and quantitative analysis ranked #3.

Penn was included in the list of national universities with the largest proportion of international undergrads during the 2003-2004 year, with 11%.

NLRB Decision: Grad Student Case

On August 26, 2004 the Regional Director of the NLRB dismissed the petition that had been filed by GET-UP. Upon learning of the decision, President Gutmann reiterated that she is eager to work with graduate student organizations to pursue their mutual goal of improving graduate education at Penn.

Search for EVP

President Amy Gutmann announced in early July that the search was underway to fill the vacant position of Executive Vice President. "Someone who knows Penn well would be an ideal candidate," Dr. Gutmann said.

  Almanac, Vol. 51, No. 2, September 7, 2004

ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS: