Deans step down
Thomas P. Gerrity, dean of the Wharton School since 1990, and Colin S. Diver, dean of the Law School since 1989, both submitted their resignations last week, effective June 30, 1999, but plan to stay on as professors.
Thomas P. Gerrity
Gerrity plans to pursue scholarly interests and teach at Wharton.
"I have been looking forward in recent years to spending more time with my family," Gerrity said.
Under Gerrity's leadership, undergraduate and MBA applications rose about 80 percent to record levels. Wharton raised more than any other business school in the past two years, and tripled its endowment in eight years to more than $292 million.
A pacesetter in the use of information technology, Wharton has extended international programs and has created new interdisciplinary and joint-degree programs with other schools at Penn.
One of those schools is the Law School.
Colin S. Diver
"By the conclusion of the current academic year, I will have accomplished the goals I set for myself in 1989," Diver wrote in his letter of resignation as dean of the Law School.
Under Diver's leadership, the standing faculty and endowed chairs have each increased by one-third. The largest gift ever to an American law school, donated during Diver's tenure, is one of many that have enabled the Law School to double its facilities and incorporate technology services for students and faculty.
Programs in international, foreign and comparative law have strengthened the curriculum under Diver's tenure.
Penn President Judith Rodin expressed appreciation and sadness on learning of the two resignations. The Law School, she said, "is very much stronger in virtually every respect today than it was" a decade ago, she said.
Of Gerrity, she said, "Clearly, he has been the linchpin in Wharton's reputation as the finest business school in the world."
