I got a very nice letter back from the chief academic officer (who was also a dean on my voyage, and remembered me), telling me that the Exec. Dean selects the staff from a selection of all apps chosen by ISE staff, so he may not have even seen my application. And next time, she would be happy to write me a "glowing" letter of recommendation to make sure my application gets seen.
Ahh, warm fuzzies. Feeling somewhat better.