As the Presidential Search Committee goes fishing for a successor to President Nan Keohane, they may find they are not the only ones soaking bait this year.
Duke is only one of a number of universities nationwide whose presidents are stepping down at the end of the academic year. Although some of the candidates may appear in more than one school's pool, Presidential Search Committee chair Robert Steel does not seem worried. "I have no apprehensions about there being competition," Steel said. "In the end, the selection will be a very personal one."
Even the prospect of a simultaneous presidential search by the University of Pennsylvania--which tied for 5th with Duke in the latest college rankings from U.S. News and World Report--does not concern Steel nor his counterpart at Penn, Jim Riepe.
"There will be enough good candidates for both of us," Steel said. "I'm not afraid for a second about presenting the Duke opportunity next to any opportunity in the world."
Of all the other universities currently engaged in presidential searches, Penn is arguably the most comparable to Duke. Both schools attract the nation's top high school and college graduates each year, both boast internationally renowned faculty and both include world-class medical centers.
Still, Steel and Riepe said there are enough differences, large and small, to make the presidential search something of a self-selection process, as well as one guided by differing sets of goals from each school.
"The search committee at Duke will want to choose someone that fits in style, personality and ambition with our search committee and board and school," said Steel, who is also vice chair of Duke's Board of Trustees. "The panel at Penn will want the same and will act according to their own nuances and differences."
Riepe, chair of Penn's Consultative Committee for the Selection of a President and president of the Board of Trustees, said that although the presidents at Penn, Duke and most other universities will have to consider similar issues such as fundraising for their respective schools, other presidential responsibilities differ from institution to institution.
"Some of the basic things are quite generic, but each institution has to decide what's important beyond that," Riepe said. Larry Moneta, Duke's vice president for student affairs and Penn's former associate vice president for campus services, said the intrinsic differences between Duke and Penn will help separate some candidates that may otherwise have considered the two universities on equal footing.
"These are the two premiere presidential jobs in the country, so we may be competitive for similar types of candidates," Moneta said. "That said, Penn and Duke have their own needs related to their own environments, so the two campuses should sort themselves out quite readily."
Steel echoed Moneta's sentiments, noting just a few of the most obvious differences between the two schools.
"Penn is a northern Ivy League school, whereas Duke is located in the South with a little shorter history but with great ambitions," Steel said. "We also have a different perspective on athletics--Duke being much more serious and it being a much bigger part of our overall product."
Moneta noted some of Duke's academic opportunities that are "unique from what Penn has recognized," such as the Sanford Institute of Public Policy and the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences. Duke and Penn are working on slightly different timelines for their respective presidential searches. Steel said his committee hopes to have a president selected by February 2004, while Riepe said his committee hopes to have chosen Penn President Judith Rodin's successor by July 1. Penn just announced the appointment of its search committee last week.
Next, Riepe said, his committee will start to think about the challenges the university will face in the next decade and the kinds of characteristics they would like to see in their next president. Steel's committee released a list of presidential criteria last June.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.