Carnegie Mellon pres. declines Rodin's office

Carnegie Mellon University President and Penn alumnus Jared Cohon has declined to be a candidate for the Penn presidency.

According to Carnegie Mellon spokeswoman Teresa Thomas, Cohon was approached by a search firm to be considered as a candidate in the search process. She specified that he was never an official candidate.

"He said he's not interested in being interviewed for the position," Thomas said, adding that when the firm asked Cohon to provide names of potential candidates, he declined.

Search firm Isaacson, Miller was hired to help Penn recruit candidates after University President Judith Rodin announced in July that she would resign in June 2003, ending her decade-long tenure. On Sept. 5, the University Board of Trustees Chairman James Riepe named the search committee -- composed of Riepe and 21 trustees, faculty members and students -- for her successor.

Cohon, who earned a civil engineering degree from Penn in 1969, was appointed president of CMU in 1997 after working at Yale University as dean of its School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. According Philadelphia Magazine, his contract was renewed last year through 2007.

In the magazine's October issue, Cohon was earmarked as the top candidate for Penn's highest post out of a list of five, which also included University Provost Robert Barchi, Reed College President Colin Diver, Harvard Dean Drew Gilpin Faust and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Chancellor Nancy Cantor.

Cohon told CMU's student newspaper The Tartan that he was considered a strong candidate due to his Penn alumni status and his experience as the president of a well-respected school.

CMU junior Mistina Muscatel, president of the school's Greek Council, said that only a few student leaders were aware of Cohon's discussions with a search firm.

"President Cohon definitely feels that he's accomplished a lot," Muscatel said, adding that "the students admire him a lot and respect him."

She added that there has been some speculation about the lengths to which CMU has gone to keep Cohon at the helm.

"We heard unofficially that there was a huge increase in pay" associated with his decision to stay, Muscatel said, noting that it was a rumor at this point. At over $700,000, Rodin's 2001-2002 base salary doubles that of Cohon.

University spokesman Ron Ozio declined to comment on the presidential search, as did search committee members Dierdra Reber, president of the Graduate Student Associations Council, and Robert Alvarez, chairman of the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly.

Staff reporter Spencer Willig contributed to this report.

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