The Wharton School is giving every student the opportunity to have a voice in deciding who the next person to lead their school will be.
Thursday morning, Wharton students received an email requesting nominations for the school’s new dean.
The email came from Dean of the Perelman School of Medicine Larry Jameson, who chairs the Wharton dean consultative committee.
Related: Four Penn schools searching for deans
“The committee is consulting widely with members of the Wharton community to ensure that we fully understand the scope of the dean’s responsibilities and the opportunities and challenges he or she will face in the years ahead,” the email read, before inviting students to send comments and suggestions to members of the committee directly or to a confidential email address.
Given the number of emails students receive in a single day, they may ignore the generic messages that are sent to an entire listserv. Wharton sophomore Megan Humes saw the email but did not register its content or importance.
“I think it’s a good way to get students involved, but it would be better if they found a way to make clear that it’s not just spam,” said Humes.
Thomas Robertson, the current Wharton dean, announced in April that he would not seek reappointment. He is one of four deans who are departing from their positions in the next year. The other three deans are Andrew Porter of the Graduate School of Education, Afaf Meleis of the Nursing School, and Richard Gelles of the School of Social Policy & Practice.
Related: Dean of Wharton School will not seek reappointment in 2014
Robertson’s term will end on June 30, 2014.
A previous version of this article stated that the email was sent Monday morning. It was sent on Thursday.
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