Madame President

Yale's Rodin tapped to be first female Ivy chief Yale Provost Judith Rodin has been nominated to be the University's next president and the first woman to head an Ivy League institution on a full-time basis. Rodin, 49, will become the University's seventh president and 22nd chief executive if the Board of Trustees approves the nomination – as it is seems likely they will – at its full meeting on campus December 16. Rodin would start next July, when Interim President Claire Fagin's term ends. President Search Committee Chairperson Alvin Shoemaker said the Trustees' Executive Committee unanimously voted to nominate Rodin at a meeting Sunday evening, following a seven-month search that reviewed 300 nominations and interviewed 60 people. Rodin, a native of Philadelphia and 1966 graduate of the University, was introduced by an emotional Shoemaker at a packed press conference yesterday afternoon in Houston Hall's Bodek Lounge. "When I got the call [Sunday] night, I was ecstatic," she said yesterday, brimming with excitement. "Coming home to Penn is a great honor. It's like a lifelong dream." Rodin, a noted research psychologist who has been at Yale since 1972, said during the press conference that she is prepared to assume the presidency. "It never occurred to me [when I graduated] that I would have this great opportunity," she said. "It's a tremendous responsibility, but I look forward to leading an incredible university." Rodin would not answer questions about racial tensions and other issues at the University, or how she would handle them as president, until after her nomination is voted on. "We need to respect the democratic process," she said. Shoemaker, who said ending the search was like "giving birth" after almost seven months of intense searching, added he is "very proud" to recommend Rodin to the Board of Trustees. Shoemaker said last week that the search had been narrowed to three final candidates. He would not identify the other two finalists. The announcement's timing apparently took much of the campus by surprise. While some rumors were flying that Shoemaker was planning to make an announcement yesterday afternoon, no one seemed to know for sure – including president search committee members. "I didn't know until this morning," said College senior Jun Bang, one of two undergraduates on the search committee. "I knew it was happening soon, but I didn't know exactly when." Part of the surprise, Shoemaker said, came about because Rodin did not officially accept the nomination until early yesterday morning. "I couldn't notify anyone because she only just accepted over breakfast," he said. Fagin said while she did not have advance knowledge of the press conference, she is pleased with the nomination. "I think it's fabulous to be followed by a woman and a Penn grad," Fagin said. "And everything she said was so encouraging." Fagin said she will continue to work hard as interim president, but added that she and Rodin would be communicating often. "I am the president at the moment, and will be til I walk out the door," she said. "The provost and I will continue zooming ahead." Former President Sheldon Hackney, who stepped down last spring after nearly 11 years as president, said he wholeheartedly supports Rodin's nomination. "I couldn't imagine anyone in America who would be better," Hackney, now the chairperson of the National Endowment for the Humanities, said last night. "She knows Penn. She grew up in Philadelphia and she has had significant experience at another university. I think she will come in in a very good position to take Penn to the next level." Shoemaker said he thinks Rodin will make a great addition to the University administration, adding he sees the University once again assuming a leading role. "It's not surprising that Penn is the first in the Ivy League to have a woman president," he said. "Penn was the first school in the U.S. to be designated a University and the first Ivy institution to accept women to the undergraduate college." Rodin had been considered for other top positions recently. She was widely believed to be a candidate for the Yale presidency earlier this year and was one of two finalists to head the National Institutes of Health. Rodin, who is divorced, said she plans to live on campus with her 11-year-old son, Alex.

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