Here’s what impressed me about former Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson: his ability to always get quotes in the newspaper for nearly everything about the college admissions process. Even if an article featured colleges other than Penn more prominently, Stetson somehow managed to snag the pull-quote. Anyone else notice this? I mentioned it at a dining hall last week and Wharton freshman Josh Lipman duly agreed, “Whenever I opened up the New York Times or Wall Street Journal and read an article about college admission, [former] Dean Stetson, sure enough, was quoted.” Likewise, College freshman David Bournas-Ney said, “I read many articles about the college application process and the majority of them quoted [former] Dean Stetson.”
Here are some examples:
The flurry of Wall Street Journal articles: From an article on waitlists to a feature on transferring, Stetson seemed to be guaranteed a say.
The shout-outs continued, from the Washington Post to the New York Times–again, in articles that did not focus on Penn.
As I became aware of this, my first move whenever reading about college admissions was to locate the Stetson quotes. Chances were great that I would find his words tucked in somewhere. Now, of course, that won’t happen anymore.
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October 21st, 2007 at 2:19 pm
Finally, someone with something positive to say about the man…someone who has not tried him and found him guilty on…silence.
In business, you measure a person’s success by the organization they have built around them. Stetson’s organization not only did not miss a step when he left but I am sure there are people who could, if they wanted, leak anonymous tidbits. That clearly did not happen. He inspired loyalty and built leadership at every level.
Thanks Mike for giving a time to the bigger picture which spans 29 years of service.