Wharton Dean Patrick Harker is packing his bags for the University of Delaware.
The 48-year-old will become the University's president this summer. It's a great achievement for Harker, but it will also be an enormous loss for Penn.
Harker earned four degrees - including his bachelor's - from the University. And he has spent nearly all of the previous 26 years as a member of the Penn faculty or administration.
At the age of 41, Harker was appointed dean of the Wharton school in 2000, the youngest person ever to serve as dean in Penn's history.
Since taking charge, Harker has expanded the spheres of Wharton's influence within the United States and abroad. Wharton West, in San Francisco, was founded during his tenure, and he helped Wharton forge an alliance with INSEAD, one of the leading non-U.S. based business school in the world.
And of more significant note to Penn students and faculty, Harker helped lead a $445 million fundraising effort during the dot-com bust. Eighty-two percent of Wharton faculty donated to the effort, which directed $127 million for academic programs and $47 million for financial aid. And, of course, Huntsman Hall was completed during Harker's tenure.
He's been a major asset to his school and his University - and it will be comforting knowing he's only 30 minutes away.
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