Stetson Departure: Former dean's trademark: his willingness to talk

When reporters wanted to know more about a mysterious drop in SAT scores or a growing trend of deferred college acceptances, there was one person they could call year in and year out for admissions insight: Lee Stetson.

Stetson - who until his unexplained departure in August served as Penn's admissions dean for 29 years - helped propel the University from a well-regarded regional institution to a national and international force.

And along the way, he developed into a fixture of the media's coverage of higher education.

Before Stetson came to Penn, when "education reporters reached out for quotes, they reached for Harvard, Yale [and] Princeton" universities, said Art Casciato, the former head of Penn's Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships.

But Stetson's "style and aplomb" won over reporters, Casciato said, and they began seeing Stetson as a key force in the admissions world.

Alan Finder, a New York Times education reporter, agreed that Stetson's willingness to be forthcoming and make himself available to journalists was one of the reasons why he "got more than his share" of coverage.

It was this spirit of openness and transparency that allowed The Christian Science Monitor to do an in-depth profile of the Penn admissions process in 1998.

In that article, a Monitor reporter gained a seat at the table around which Stetson and his admissions staff decided who would be accepted to the University.

Allowing reporters that kind of access to such a delicate process was "extremely unusual," college consultant Shirley Bloomquist said. "Lee was a risk taker."

Bloomquist also said Stetson's public advocacy for early decision made Penn one of the first schools to acknowledge that applying early helps a high schooler's chances of getting in.

Because of this and other stances, Stetson was seen by others in the profession as "a voice of reason," says admissions consultant Steve Antonoff.

All this helped push Stetson into his role as a "national spokesman" for Penn, according to University spokeswoman Lori Doyle.

The question that remains, then, is how Stetson's abrupt and mysterious departure will affect Penn's cachet when it comes to talking about admissions issues - especially given the fact that Stetson had nearly 30 years to establish himself as a leading voice in higher education.

Doyle said that Interim Dean Eric Kaplan, who previously served as Lehigh University's head of admissions, is well-versed in dealing with the media, and that University Communications will work with him and his permanent replacement to push them into the media spotlight.

Continuing its recent policy barring admissions officers from speaking about Stetson, the University refused several requests to make members of the admissions staff available for comment.

Penn President Amy Gutmann also declined to comment, referring all questions to Doyle.

Stetson also did not return a call for comment.

Originally set to leave at the end of the academic year, Stetson abruptly declared his resignation effective immediately at the end of August.

The only explanation that Gutmann has given as to the reason behind Stetson's departure is that it was in the "best interests" of both Stetson and Penn.

She and Doyle have refused repeated requests to elaborate upon this comment.

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