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Samuel Preston
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Richard Beeman
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Michael Mandl photo

New Deans Announced for SAS

Search committees concluded their work as two long-time members of Penn's faculty took on new roles as deans for SAS in January. Dr. Samuel H. Preston, a faculty member for 19 years, has been named Dean of the School of Arts and Sciences, and Dr. Richard R. Beeman, on the Penn faculty since 1968, was named Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education and Director of the College.

Dean Preston, the Frederick J. Warren Professor of Demography in the Department of Sociology and director of Penn's Population Studies Center, has published 12 books and over 140 papers and reviews on a wide range of demographic topics. He is highly regarded for his development of mathematical and statistical tools for demographic analysis and well known for his studies of changes in the relative well-being of children and the elderly.

"An exhaustive search has led us to a distinguished scholar in our own midst, and we are absolutely delighted with the result," said President Judith Rodin. "An internationally renowned scholar, the distinguished past chair (twice) of our Department of Sociology, and a member of Penn's faculty since 1979, Sam is the ideal person to lead SAS into the 21st century." In addition to being department chair, Preston has served as chair of the Graduate Group in Demography and as moderator of the University Council. He has supervised the Ph.D. dissertations of more than 40 students in demography and sociology.

He earned his Ph.D. in economics in 1968. Before coming to Penn, Preston taught at Berkeley and the University of Washington, where he became director of the Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology. He also accepted a two-year position as acting chief of the United Nations Population Trends and Structure Section. Preston is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and, since 1989, has served as chair of its Committee on Population and its Social and Political Sciences Section. A winner of Guggenheim and Woodrow Wilson fellowships, he is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Statistical Association, among others. He has been president of the Population Association of America, winning its 1983 Irene B. Taeuber Award for Excellence in Demographic Research; president of the Sociological Research Association; and member of the Governing Council of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population.

Preston succeeds Dr. Walter Wales, a professor of physics, who has served as interim dean since Dr. Rosemary Stevens returned to full-time teaching and research. "Walter is the definition of a University citizen," said President Rodin, "his value to Penn is immense." (For details on an opportunity to meet Dean Preston during Alumni Weekend, see "Meet the Dean" under Coming Up: SAS Alumni Weekend Events.)

Dean Richard Beeman, professor of history, succeeds Dr. Robert Rescorla, who returned to full-time service in the Department of Psychology. Beeman was twice chair of the Department of History. He was also Associate Dean for the Humanities and Social Sciences in SAS in 1991-1995 and has been a member of the Provost's Council on International Programs, the College Committee on Study Abroad, and the Task Force on the Constitutionalism and Democracy component of the 21st Century Project. He continues as chair of the University Task Force on American and Comparative Democratic and Legal Institutions.

"Rick's strong academic and administrative credentials, together with his seemingly limitless energy and firm commitment to undergraduate education, will make him a dynamic leader of the College," noted Wales.

Beeman is a prominent scholar and teacher of early American history, with particular interests in the American Revolution, the Constitution, and early American political culture. He is currently working on his fourth book; his biography of Patrick Henry was nominated for the National Book Award in 1974.

In the classroom, Beeman has been known to display his passion for history and teaching by dressing as the historical figure about whom he is lecturing. Last year he dressed as Davy Crockett, complete with coonskin cap and musket, and made an entrance accompanied by the Davy Crockett theme song. "Not many professors would outfit themselves as Davy Crockett out of their own pockets," observed history graduate student Michael McElreath. (Not many would do it even with funds from the University.)

Beeman came to Penn after receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He has also taught at Hull in England as a Fulbright Senior Lecturer and as the William R. Kenan Professor of History at Colby College. He is holder of numerous grants and fellowships, including those of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Rockefeller Foundation. He has served as editor of The American Quarterly and was director of the Philadelphia Center for Early American Studies. He will continue as senior fellow of Philadelphia's National Constitution Center, which is scheduled to break ground in the year 2000. The Center is envisioned as an interactive museum; Beeman's role is to shape the educational and programmatic components, which in part involves being what he calls "a broker between the Constitution Center and all the wealth of intellectual talent that we have here at Penn."

"I want to thank Walter Wales for his confidence in me, and also -- emphatically -- to express my real excitement at working alongside Sam Preston as our new Dean," declared Beeman. "There is, quite literally, no one within the University with whom I would rather work."

It was also announced that Michael J. Mandl of Duke University will come to Penn as Vice Dean for Finance and Administration in SAS. In his new role, Mandl will be the School's chief administrative and financial officer, with oversight responsibilities for budget, computing, facilities, and administrative staff personnel matters. Since 1993, he was director of academic financial services, budgets, and systems in the Office of the Provost at Duke. From 1989-91, he was assistant dean for budget and administration at Duke's School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Earlier, he worked as senior budget, financial, and accounting analyst with Glaxo, Inc. and as a certified public accountant with Peat, Marwick, Main & Co.

Mandl received a Bachelor of Accountancy with distinction from George Washington University. He has taken an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Duke and has done doctoral work in business administration, management, and organizational theory at Duke and at the University of Michigan.

President Rodin declared that "these leaders will transfuse the School with new energy, spirit, and direction. Students, faculty, and staff in Arts and Sciences -- and all the rest of us at the University -- could not be more fortunate."


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