Looking Back, Thinking Ahead

This column is my last as Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, as I prepare to hand over the job to my successor, Steven Fluharty, and to return to full-time teaching and research at Penn. This has been a time to look back on 15 years of service in the SAS administration, especially on my eight years as Dean of SAS, and also to look ahead, for both the School and myself.

Looking back, I’m proud of so many things that the School has accomplished in those years, most of all the investments we have made in students and faculty. These include launching exciting interdisciplinary initiatives for undergraduates, such as the Integrated Studies Program and the Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research. In eight years, in the course of the normal turnover, the School hired 188 new faculty. These faculty, including 11 Penn Integrates Knowledge professors, have brought great new energy and innovation to teaching and research in SAS. During a time of constrained resources, we completed an award-winning restoration of the historic Music Building and raised the funds to build the Neural and Behavioral Sciences Building, which begins construction next fall. And, of course, I am thoroughly delighted that we exceeded our goal for the Making History campaign, raising $529 million to support the School’s highest priorities.

All of the accomplishments of these years were made possible by the hard work, dedication, and creativity of so many people. Penn and SAS faculty, administrators, staff, and students made all these things happen. I have been very lucky to lead a school that has such talented people in it, people who are not afraid of new ideas or change, and who are remarkably loyal to this institution. I have also been so moved and inspired by the generosity and vision of our Board of Overseers and our countless donors and volunteers who have supported the School through what were admittedly some tough times.

People also ask me what I will miss most about being Dean of SAS. It is easy to talk about what I won’t miss: for example, endless budget meetings or late Friday afternoon crises (they always seem to happen on a Friday). But the answer to what I will miss most is also easy: It is the people I have met and worked with over the years. Around campus and around the world, I have had the opportunity to get to know a wide range of fascinating people, and many of them have become my friends. Here on campus I worked with economists, astrophysicists, archaeologists, and many others, people I would surely have never encountered as just a professor of English. And it has been delightful to engage with alumni and families, from New York to Los Angeles to Hong Kong to New Delhi to London and back home. I hope that many of these friendships will last much longer than my term as Dean.

This has been a challenging and deeply rewarding experience for me, but it is time now for me to return to my first love of teaching and research, what I came to Penn to do in 1982. I will be teaching new courses (next year, a large general education course on tragedy and an Integrated Studies course on the theme of “Reality”), and working on a new book on time and tragedy. I can do so very confident that the School’s next dean will take us to new heights. Steve Fluharty is a Penn person through and through: He knows SAS and Penn so well, and he embodies that can-do spirit and commitment to excellence that will be so important for leading the School in the future. I am very grateful to him for taking on the job, and to all of you who have helped to make the School of Arts and Sciences strong as the intellectual heart and soul of Penn.