Lee Bollinger arrives tomorrow to start his tenure as provost, making him the number two official in the College's executive office.
Bollinger replaces Bruce Pipes, who has been acting provost for the past year after former Provost John Strohbehn stepped down last July to resume teaching.
In an interview last July with The Dartmouth, Bollinger said, "Dartmouth is one of the great institutions of higher education in the country. I consider it a tremendous honor. I feel very proud to be connected to the institution as a provost."
Bollinger was dean of the University of Michigan Law School. He joined the faculty there in 1973 after clerking for Chief Justice Warren Burger of the U.S. Supreme Court.
He attended the University of Oregon as an undergraduate and graduated from the Columbia University Law school, where he focused his legal studies on freedom of speech and of the press.
Obligations at the University of Michigan prevented Bollinger from coming to Dartmouth immediately after the resignation of Strohbehn, who will become Duke University's provost on July 1.
But Bollinger has visited frequently and kept abreast of campus happenings through phone conversations with Pipes during the interim, Pipes said.
Pipes, who will serve as deputy provost, said Bollinger brings a unique, outside perspective to the position.
"He comes from a very different academic environment, both as dean of a law school and as a faculty member at a large state university, and he will surely have valuable insight on Dartmouth's academic and residential programs," Pipes said.
Pipes said some of the items Bollinger might tackle in the near future are the search for a dean of the Thayer School of Engineering and of the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration, rapid changes in the health care industry that may affect the medical school and the Will to Excel capital campaign.
Bollinger, like College President James Freedman, values intellectual life.
"The question you want to ask is what values does somebody bring to the position. I have a deep respect for the intellectual and artistic sides of human existence," Bollinger said.
Bollinger plans to teach one course a year on either freedom of the press and freedom of speech, on media law or on public institutions concerned with culture. He will teach a course Fall term for the government department.
In an interview last July with The Dartmouth, Bollinger said, "I want to do whatever I can to add to the intellectual life of the institution."
Assistant Provost Barbara Gerstner said Bollinger and his wife, who is an artist, are building a home in Norwich, Vt. Until their home is completed, they will be living in College housing. They have a daughter who will attend Harvard University in the fall and a son.
During his year as provost, Pipes oversaw the completion of the Collis Center and the Sudikoff Laboratory for Computer Science and worked extensively on the new curriculum with Dean of the Faculty James Wright.
