Five new appointments strengthen SAS

Several School of Arts and Sciences departments successfully recruited new faculty members over the summer. One appointment was made in the Romance Languages, Physics and Astronomy departments each, while two were made in the Biology Department. The Romance Languages hiring was a senior appointment. The remaining appointments are junior professorships. The embattled Political Science Department failed to get any new recruits over the summer, although it did score one assistant professor last spring. "We are very much on target," SAS Dean Samuel Preston said. "[The hirings] enabled the school to grow for the first time in perhaps a decade." With a total of 26 new hirings made this year, the number of SAS faculty has grown from 437 to 450. Preston said 40 new searches have been authorized this summer and will be conducted throughout the year. Last semester, 40 searches were also authorized -- and after the recent hires, the 14 remaining searches will continue as well. Carlos Alonso, a professor at Emory University, received the senior appointment. Alonso specializes in 19th and 20th century Spanish American literature, intellectual history and culture as well as critical theory. Stanford University Professor Kathleen Treseder and University of California at Berkeley Professor Doris Wagner are new additions to the Biology Department. Treseder will begin her term on campus in the spring of 2001. Matthew Strassler was appointed as a Physics and Astronomy professor. He, too, comes from Stanford University. Searches will continue throughout the year, with appointments being made early next spring. Preston said the searches follow the SAS Strategic Plan, which focuses on increased funding and hiring in six departments -- Biology, Economics, English, History, Political Science and Psychology. Political Science continues to be the most troubled department in terms of staffing. "We have a very small Political Science Department, which creates its own difficulties," Preston said. "Potential candidates prefer to join larger departments." Preston added that there had been several possibilities in the search who had turned down their offers at the last minute. Preston also said the new searches will aim at strengthening Penn's interdisciplinary majors, particularly Politics, Philosophy and Economics; Biological Basis of Behavior and International Relations

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