Bruce Pipes is now doing a job he might have gotten -- if he hadn't withdrawn his candidacy. But he still got the provost job, if only temporarily.
Pipes will serve as the College's chief academic officer until the provost-designate, Lee Bollinger, the University of Michigan Law School dean, takes over next July.
Pipes and Bollinger were both on the final list of four candidates in the search to succeed John Strohbehn. Pipes said he withdrew in a private meeting with College President James Freedman before the final selection was made.
"The President and I had several rather long discussions and I told him I wanted to do whatever was best for Dartmouth and whatever he thought was best for Dartmouth," Pipes said in a recent interview in his office.
Pipes was reluctant to talk about the specifics of the whole search process and the reason for his withdrawal. But he did say he looks forward to his year in the acting-Provost position until Bollinger fulfills his obligations at Michigan.
"If I had any sense from the President or from Lee Bollinger that I was going to be a space holder, I wouldn't have been interested," he said. "I don't view power or empire building as part of my nature. It's not the job per se ... I'm much more interested in being part of something I can contribute to."
Pipes, a member of the faculty for almost 21 years now, has made a steady climb to his administrative post. Beginning in 1972, Pipes worked his way up from assistant professor to associate professor and finally to full professor of physics in 1984.
In 1984, Pipes also became Associate Dean of the Faculty for the Science and the Dean of Graduate Studies. He became Associate Provost, working under Strohbehn, in 1990.
"Often is the case when a faculty member goes into administration, he becomes apologetic. But, well, I really like what I do. I have choices. I still feel I want to make contributions in the administration, working on the hard problems, making an institution like Dartmouth the best it can be," Pipes said.
But Pipes has not completely forsaken his love of teaching.
"I feel it's important as administrators to teach as much as possible. I teach a course in physics and it keeps me in touch with the students," he said.
As the acting-Provost, Pipes said he will resume most of the responsibilities Strohbehn commanded and keep in close communications with Bollinger, informing him of decisions and the long term implications of those decisions.
His previous duties as Associate Provost have not been reassigned. "It doesn't make sense to have the acting Provost and the acting Associate Provost positions unravel at the end of the year," Pipes said. He said he decided instead to distribute his former duties to the other associates in the Provost Office.
His former responsibilities included overseeing campus computing, research and administration, facilities planning, the Dartmouth Institute, language outreach programs, University of New England Press, and the electronic microscope lab.
"I told the directors of those areas that I can't meet with them as often in the coming year, but I want to make sure they still have access to the Provost," Pipes said.
Pipes graduated from Rice University in 1963 and completed his graduate studies at Stanford University in 1970. He was a research instructor at Louisiana State University before coming to Dartmouth.
In his spare time, Pipes said he likes to sail and jog. "It's difficult to find time to do personal reading, most of the time it is done while I'm traveling," Pipes said.
Currently Pipes said he has no expectations about the future. "As time goes on, [Freedman] and I will discuss the future," he said. But whether or not Pipes returns to his Associate Provost position after Bollinger arrives will be determined by the new Provost.
