Filling Roselle's shoes

The Presidential Search Committee has narrowed the candidate pool down to two candidates.

The leaders of Registered Student Organizations were invited for question-and-answer sessions with each candidate. Patrick Harker, dean of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, and Michael Hogan, executive vice president and provost at the University of Iowa, met with a mixture of undergraduate and graduate students Wednesday and yesterday, respectively, to discuss the students' concerns.

The Review chose a selective number of qualifications and achievements to offer a brief view of each candidate.

PATRICK T. HARKER

Education

Bachelor of Science in Engineering in Civil and Urban Engineering, UPenn, 1981

Master of Science in Engineering in Civil and Urban Engineering, UPenn, 1981

Master of Arts in Economics, UPenn, 1983

Doctorate in Civil Engineering, UPenn, 1983

Qualifications:

Interim or appointed Dean of the Wharton School at UPenn from 1999-present

UPS Transportation Professor of the Private Sector from 1991-2000

Chairman, Department of Operations and Information Management, the Wharton School at the UPenn, 1997-1999

Trustee, Goldman Sachs Trust and Goldman Sachs Variable Insurance Trust, 2000-present

Director, Fishman-Davidson Center for the Study of the Service Sector, The Wharton School, 1989-1994

Notable Achievements:

Named by President George H.W. Bush as White House Fellow, 1991-1992.

Named ISI Highly Cited Researcher (Mathematics), 2004

2002 Alan Goldman lecturer, Department of Mathematical Sciences, John Hopkins University

2002 Wei Lun Distinguished Visiting Professor, Chinese University of Hong Kong

1998 David W. Hauck Outstanding Teaching in the Undergraduate Division, the Wharton School

Talking Points:

How would you preserve quality of the school while maintaining a sufficient amount of in-state students?

Harker said the university should continually increase the bar for all applicants, but should also institute some programs for in-state students to uphold the obligation of a state university. He was particularly adamant about maintaining a high standard for all prospective students.

"That's the obligation of a state university like the state of Delaware and the University of Delaware - to make sure it's open and accessible to its citizens who back it with their dollars," he said. "But it also has to send a message at the same time. While it's making sure it's accessible, that accessibility means meeting this requirement because to lower that, lowers the whole standard of the state."

How would you balance the equality of university departments?

The university should not diminish the quality of more prestigious departments but should think of ways to improve other departments to enrich the university as a whole, Harker said.

"The goal of the president is not to diminish the quality of the things that you have strong. As Peter Drucker, who is a manager guru, said 'Rule One: play to your strengths. Never give up your strengths.' That's suicide," he said. "The goal is to bring the others up with you."

How would you distinguish opinion of the president and the university?

Harker said he believes open communication between faculty and students is imperative to ensure that when the president speaks, his opinions truly reflect the entire university.

"If there is a general consensus of what the right thing is or if you have a deeply-held belief as an individual, then you have a right to speak up," Harker said. "The president has to be really careful. There's speaking ex cathedra as opposed to speaking as an individual. When you speak on behalf of the institution, you've got to make sure the institution agrees."

How would you further the university's reputation?

Harker said he wanted to incorporate alumni networks to draw more students to the university. He also said he wanted to increase racial and geographical diversity on campus by bringing in more international students.

"The world is getting incredibly small and you need to start interacting a lot with lots of different people to get their perspectives," he said. "Some of the problems the world faces today are that we just don't know each other. Higher education is that place where we can bring that together."

Why do you want to be president?

Harker said he would have been content with being a professor had he not joined the White House Fellows program, which opened his eyes to larger issues.

"I really think Delaware is poised to be an exemplar of what a model state university should be," he said.

MICHAEL J. HOGAN

Education:

Bachelor of Arts in English, University of Northern Iowa

Master of Arts in History, University of Iowa

Doctorate in History, University of Iowa

Qualifications

Executive vice president and provost, University of Iowa, 2004-present

F. Wendell Miller Professor of History, University of Iowa, 2004-2006

Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Ohio State University, 2001-2004

Dean, College of Humanities, Ohio State University, 1999-2003

Chair, Department of History, Ohio State University, 1993-1999

Notable Achievements

University Distinguished Scholar, Ohio State University, 1990-2004

President, Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, 2003

Louis Martin Sears Distinguished Scholar Award, Ohio State University, 1990

The Tom L. Evans Fellowship, Harry S. Truman Library Institute for National and International Affairs, 1980