Wharton prof a dean candidate, magazine says

Kenneth Shropshire said he didn't know if he was up for the vacant post. In its November issue, Philadelphia Magazine reported that Legal Studies Professor Kenneth Shropshire, who is Penn's representative to the NCAA, is a possible candidate for the vacant Wharton deanship. The magazine ranked Shropshire the 60th most powerful Philadelphian in its special "Power 100" section. University President Judith Rodin was ranked seventh on the list, and Penn Health System CEO William Kelley was ranked 21st. Reached at home for comment last night, Shropshire, 44, denied that he was a leading candidate and said he did not know if he was even a candidate at all. "I'm not, as far as I know, a candidate," Shropshire said. "I wouldn't have that information." He said he has not been privy to the highly confidential "determinations" of the search committee charged with finding a new dean. When asked, however, if he had been interviewed by the search committee, chaired by Graduate School of Fine Arts Dean Gary Hack, Shropshire refused to comment. Still, he maintained that he has "no idea what the committee is doing," adding that candidates themselves are often not kept abreast of any search committee's proceedings. The committee submitted a short list of candidates to Rodin and Provost Robert Barchi in late October. Shropshire's name is the only one to have publicly surfaced since the search began last fall. Hack did not return repeated phone messages left at his office and his house yesterday. Shropshire said he is perfectly content to remain as a professor but added that he would certainly be "flattered if someone asked" him to be dean. Several of Shropshire's colleagues in Wharton's Legal Studies Department said yesterday that they were not aware if Shropshire was a candidate or not. "I don't have any information," Legal Studies Department Chairperson Richard Shell said. "I've got no idea." The search has been ongoing since last November, when Rodin and then-Interim Provost Michael Wachter appointed a 12-member search committee to search for a replacement for former Wharton dean Thomas Gerrity. An interim dean, Patrick Harker, was appointed over the summer. Shropshire arrived at Penn as an assistant professor in 1986. He received a bachelor's degree from Stanford University in 1977 and graduated from the Columbia University School of Law in 1980. A sports industry consultant, Shropshire developed the soon-to-be-launched Wharton Institute for Professional Athletes. He also sits on U.S. Olympic Committee's budget committee. Shropshire's areas of research include the sports industry, sports law, entertainment law and real estate transactions. Two years ago, Shropshire was a significant player in the academic ineligibility scandal concerning star defensive tackle Mitch Marrow, which forced the Penn football team to forfeit five of its six wins on the season. Two weeks before the end of the 1997 season, Shropshire agreed to oversee an independent study course for Marrow after Athletic Department officials realized that the fifth-year senior was ineligible to play. Marrow had previously dropped two classes during a bout with mononucleosis, unwittingly becoming a part-time student and ineligible to play under NCAA rules. Marrow had been denied an independent seminar by the History Department before going to Shropshire. Then-College of Arts and Sciences Dean Robert Rescorla reversed Shropshire's decision. An investigation conducted by then-Provost Stanley Chodorow did not place the blame on any one official and Shropshire's actions were largely defended by the administration.

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