Pritchett named interim law dean at Penn

Wendell E. Pritchett, chancellor of Rutgers University-Camden, will become the interim dean of the University of Pennsylvania's Law School next academic year, Penn announced Tuesday.

As interim dean, he will not be a candidate for the permanent position, Penn said. A search for a new dean will begin later this spring.

Pritchett, also a member of the School Reform Commmission - the Philadelphia School District's governing body, already had planned to return to Penn's law faculty this summer, an announcement that was made in February. Pritchett was on the Penn law faculty from 2001 to 2009.

He will replace Michael A. Fitts, who is departing June 30 to become president of Tulane University.

Pritchett earned his bachelor's in political science from Brown University in 1986, his J.D. from Yale in 1991 and his doctorate in history from Penn in 1997.