Issue date: 4/25/08 Section: News

Former Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson, whose 29-year tenure at Penn ended with an abrupt resignation last semester, is starting his own college consulting company, to the surprise of the admissions community.

The company - called Stetson College Advisory - will work with "colleges and universities in evaluating their admissions programs, advising selected high-school students regarding the college search process and conducting searches for secondary schools," according to the description posted on the Harvard Summer Institute on College Admissions's Web site, which lists Stetson as a faculty member.

While the status of the company remains vague, the domain name for its Web site - stetsoncollegeadvisory.com - was reserved Dec. 9, 2007, and is under construction.

Although moving into consulting is a normal career move for retired admissions deans - and something Stetson had expressed interest in - admissions experts reacted with shock when told of Stetson's new venture.

Consultants said that Stetson's curiously hasty departure from Penn at the beginning of a school year may concern potential clients.

"If I were a parent hiring him, I'd want to know" why he left, admissions consultant Michele Hernandez said.

Stetson resigned in late August, and both he and the University have repeatedly refused to provide an explanation as to why he left. Penn President Amy Gutmann has only said that his departure was in the "best interests" of both Stetson and the University.

Continued...

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