Penn's provost to lead Duke
The University of Pennsylvania's provost is leaving to become president of Duke University, school officials announced Friday. Vincent Price, 59, a political science and communication scholar, has been No. 2 in command at the Ivy League university since 2009.
/arc-anglerfish-arc2-prod-pmn.s3.amazonaws.com/public/IXTYO4ONYBE4PKWTW6C7J75TQE.jpg)
The University of Pennsylvania's provost is leaving to become president of Duke University, school officials announced Friday.
Vincent Price, 59, a political science and communication scholar, has been No. 2 in command at the Ivy League university since 2009.
He will replace Richard H. Brodhead, who has been president of Duke for 13 years and will step down June 30.
The announcement of Price's departure comes just days after Penn's board of trustees said it would extend president Amy Gutmann's contract by three years to 2022, making her the longest-serving president in Penn's history.
"Since becoming provost in 2009, Vince has brought extraordinary leadership and vision - as well as grace and good humor - to our academic enterprise," Gutmann said in a statement to the campus Friday. "Vince helped recruit exceptional deans and faculty members while advancing initiatives to diversify the faculty, develop new forms of teaching and learning, expand Penn's global engagement . . . and enhance arts and culture on campus."
Duke, in Durham, N.C., enrolls 14,950 undergraduate, graduate, and professional students. Its tuition, fees, and room and board for 2016-17 total $66,626, just over Penn's $66,000 price tag. Penn is bigger, with about 25,000 students.
Like Penn, Duke has a health system and a law school. It's a basketball powerhouse, and has a $6.8 billion endowment, compared with Penn's $10.7 billion. It is almost as hard to get into as Penn.
Duke is private and did not release Price's salary. At Penn, Price received about $1 million in total compensation in 2014-15, the most recent year available on tax forms.
Price said he has loved his more than 18 years at Penn, but was drawn by the opportunity.
"I have been approached about a number of presidencies over the years," he said. "Clearly being able to serve at an institution the caliber of a Penn or a Duke was of paramount importance to me."
Price was selected unanimously from among more than 100 nominees and 25 potential candidates culled through an international search, Duke said.
"Vince Price has demonstrated throughout his distinguished academic career the type of strong, effective, and enlightened leadership which will ensure that Duke has a worthy successor to Dick Brodhead," said David Rubenstein, chair of Duke's board of trustees.
Price came to Penn in 1998 from the University of Michigan, where he had been chair and associate professor of communication studies. Before becoming Penn's chief academic officer, Price served as interim provost, associate provost for faculty affairs, chair of the faculty senate, and associate dean of the Annenberg School.
As provost, Price led efforts to increase interdisciplinary learning and oversaw Penn's role as one of the first partners in Coursera, the online open learning platform.
"Vince has been an outstanding provost, and it was just a matter of time before he was going to get an offer that he couldn't turn down," said David L. Cohen, chair of Penn's board of trustees.
Price graduated magna cum laude with a degree in English from Santa Clara University and got his master's and doctorate in communication from Stanford University.
Larry Jameson, executive vice president of the university for the health system and school of medicine dean, will lead an ad hoc committee on selecting the next provost. Gutmann expects to have a replacement for Price before his departure, she said.
215-854-4693 @ssnyderinq