Rudenstine's success in filling topadministrative posts have been sporadic.
In the best of times, he was able to completethree dean appointments in his first year inoffice. But the worst of times have consisted ofthe seemingly eternal searches for the vicepresident of government, community and publicaffairs and the current quest--now nearing itsfirst anniversary--for a new dean of the KennedySchool of Government.
Rudenstine defends the long dean searches,saying that there are few tasks more importantthan selecting deans for his various faculties.
But he has also repeatedly pointed out that theBusiness School dean search should not take aslong as its Kennedy School counterpart, sincethere will be fewer problems extracting candidatesfrom current posts in the government.
The Resolution
Whomever the president chooses in the end, theHarvard Business School will remain one of thebiggest names in business education. The questionis whether it will remain at the top.
And though a low-cost high profit movie likeForrest Gump would seem to be a perfectcase study for the school, one hopes that thisstory will be a bit shorter in the telling.
Jonathan N. Axelrod and Todd F. Braunsteincontributed to this report.