Penn dean will head University of Delaware.

AFTER 16 YEARS AT THE HELM, PRESIdent David Roselle is planning his departure from the University of Delaware. Credited with raising the stature of the public university, and with significantly beefing up the endowment, the Board of Trustees sought his replacement from a field of 100 higher education leaders.

Their choice is Patrick Harker, the current dean of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Harker starts his new job in July 2007, a few months after Roselle officially makes his exit.

Under Roselle's leadership, UD raised its endowment to $1.2 billion, up considerably from $326 million in 1990. He charted new directions for UD, increasing student aid from $19 million in 1991 to $56 million in 2005 and increasing the academic profile of the students admitted to the university. It was the improved UD image that convinced Harker to take the job. "They have done much at the undergraduate level. I have never read a Middle States accreditation report like theirs. Roselle has revisioned the university," he says.

Harker has one thing in common with Roselle--the tendency for a long tenure. As either a student or faculty member, Harker has been at Penn for 29 years. Harker joined the Wharton faculty in 1990 and later, as dean, helped raise $450 million over five years. "It was a hard decision to leave," he admits.--J.M.A.