The appointment of Eric Furda as dean of admissions last week came faster than Penn President Amy Gutmann had predicted, and also marked a deviation from industry standards.
From the search committee's first meeting in October to the announcement of Furda as the new dean last week, Penn's formal search process took just over three months, a pace experts say is fast but not unheard of.
In December, Gutmann said the University expected to announce a replacement for former Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson by the end of the academic year, with the committee advising her on the search to begin narrowing the field of candidates early this semester.
Gutmann could not be reached for comment because of her travel schedule.
Penn's initial timeline largely conformed with the standard range of six-to-nine months to make an appointment for a high-level university administrator.
In the last search the University conducted for a top administrator - finding a replacement for Patrick Harker as dean of the Wharton School - the process took about six months.
The speed with which Penn appointed a new dean of admissions demonstrates the University's desire to promptly fill an important post vacated by Stetson's departure, experts said.
Stetson resigned suddenly in August, and both he and Gutmann have refused to elaborate on the reasons behind the departure, with Gutmann only saying that it was in the "best interests" of both Penn and Stetson.
"I'm not surprised that they would move very quickly to [fill] this position," said Anne Klein, president of Anne Klein Communications Group LLC, explaining that it's important for Penn to demonstrate that the admissions office won't suffer from the departure of a long-serving administrator like Stetson.
"If you don't have your dean, you're almost like a ship who's rudderless," Klein said.
Faculty Senate Chairman Larry Gladney, a member of the search committee said there was "more than sufficient consultation" with various University groups in selecting Furda, he said. The committee met four times between October and mid-January.
"Sitting in on the final interview with him, I found him to be not only experienced with admissions . but [also] extremely thoughtful," Gladney said.
And executive search firms also said that an effective search can be performed in three months, especially when conducted by a well-respected firm like Witt/Kieffer, the company Penn hired.
Jamie Ferrare, president of Academic Search Inc., said that though "there's a little bit of luck involved," if a good candidate is identified early in the process, it is possible to close a deal fairly quickly.
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