Is a deanship, a deanship, a deanship? Reflecting on my fifteen years as dean of the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, and the experiences of three deans of Penn' s school of social work, I would answer: Yes and no. In many ways the position of dean, no matter the school, has characteristics in common. In other ways, the size of the school and what its discipline is make for huge differences. The mix of disciplines and their varying degrees of prestige make a deanship different in many ways for the incumbent. The extent to which the discipline is understood by the university administration makes it easier-or harder-to fulfill the role successfully. The extent to which the public values the discipline is directly related to the ease of fundraising.
In all of these ways deans of schools of social work and nursing share problems and concerns. Certainly, in a university with a prestigious medical school, business school, and a large, multidepartment school of arts and sciences, all other schools must "measure up" for the deans to be considered equal players. That this can occur is a tribute to the dean, the faculty, and the administration.
However, differences aside, the similarities among deans' roles and stresses bring rare levels of camaraderie to the group of deans working together across discipline boundaries, as long as an atmosphere of competition for resources has not become the prevailing mood at the university.
The term middleness can be used to describe the role of deans. It is used in this volume as well. I was in the dean' s role for some time before I saw myself as a person and position in the middle.
How I saw my role after I had just accepted the position of dean of Penn' s School of Nursing late in 1976 became apparent when my husband and I were invited to a reception for Penn trustees and I met a very prominent