C1 Cover_S06.qxd - Penn GSE - University of Pennsylvania

F R O M T H E D E A N
2 | Penn GSE | Fall 2007
TREVOR DIXON
Penn GSE is small and we want to stay small. But even
though we don’t want to be a big place, we do want to have
a big impact.
To have the kind of impact that Penn GSE wants to
have—that it should have—we need a highly leveraged
strategy. To my mind, a very effective centerpiece for this
strategy is a focus on leadership—leadership in ideas and
leadership in preparing and placing students to take leadership
positions in education.
Though a small institution, Penn GSE casts a long
shadow. In this issue of Penn GSE News, you’ll read about
some of the ways in which we are taking a leadership role
on the Penn campus—through research efforts like
MetroMath, the KIDS integrated database, and a predoctoral
program in interdisciplinary research and through
teacher preparation programs like our new 9th Semester
Scholars program, our religious schools program, and our
Mandarin Chinese instruction program.
We recognize that Penn GSE can’t be all things to all
people. But we do believe that we can be the most intellectually
exciting place on the education scene today.
As diverse as these projects are, we recognize that Penn
GSE can’t be all things to all people. But we do believe that
we can be the most intellectually exciting place on the education
scene today—the place where everybody out there
wants to be. We want faculty at other ed schools to covet a
position at Penn GSE, and we want students applying to
master’s and doctoral programs to list us as their first
choice. We want the educational community to look to us
for leadership in research and practice.
Leadership is a tradition at Penn GSE—as I came to learn
firsthand this summer when I had the honor to meet with
Bill Castetter Gr’48. For those of you who don’t know Bill
already, we’re profiling him in this issue of the Penn GSE
Magazine. Bill dedicated much of his life to the School. In
fact, he liked us so much that, immediately on graduation, he
joined the faculty and later took on a leadership role at Penn
GSE by serving as acting dean on two separate occasions.
During his tenure on our faculty, Bill produced critical
scholarship on educational administration and wrote the
definitive word on human resources in school settings. In
retirement, Bill has continued to lead the way in supporting
the School. His most recent service to Penn GSE comes
in the form of a bequest—the William B. and Roberta B.
Castetter Endowed Fellowship, which will support the
most talented Ph.D. students.
When Bill and I met, we spoke about what the School
needs to become the most dynamic education school in the
country. We agreed that, to achieve that goal, Penn GSE
needs two resources—the best faculty and the best students.
For a small school, Penn GSE has done an impressive
job of recruiting both. But to be the preeminent ed school
in America, we need the ability to attract more of the best.
And that means we need more endowed chair professorships
and more endowed doctoral fellowships.
Endowed chairs will give us the ability to retain the
exceptional scholars already on our faculty and to recruit
new faculty whose expertise will complement our existing
strengths. Endowed chairs give schools like Penn GSE the
freedom to forge the kind of intellectual culture that results
in transformative ideas.
Endowed doctoral fellowships will enable us to attract
young scholars at the very beginning of their careers.
Endowed fellowships provide support for future scholars
whose ideas will guide America’s educational system
through the 21st century.
The day I spoke to Bill, I reflected on the fact that, from
now on, Penn GSE will always award a Castetter fellowship.
That is a remarkable thing—and appropriate recognition
of Bill’s legacy here.
Through endowed fellowships like Bill’s, Penn GSE will
be able to matriculate the next generation of educational
leaders and scholars.
Who knows? Maybe, we’ll even be able to recruit the
next Bill Castetter.
Andy Porter