Deputy Provost Bruce Pipes will leave the College at the end of Winter term to accept the position of vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college at Franklin and Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa.
Provost Lee Bollinger said he has not yet formed a search committee.
"I'm going to send around a memo asking for nominees [for the search committee]," Bollinger said. "I haven't decided how or whether to restructure the office."
Pipes, who has been at the College since 1972 and has been an administrator since 1984, officially accepted the new position after Christmas. He will assume his new responsibilities at Franklin and Marshall on April 1.
Pipes said he was not actively seeking to leave the College, but when representatives of Franklin and Marshall approached him in September, he began to consider their offer.
"Once I got to know a lot about Franklin and Marshall, I was attracted to the position because of what I saw," said Pipes, who has also been a physics professor and an associate dean of the faculty at the College.
The vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college position at Franklin and Marshall will give Pipes greater responsibility and authority than his current job as deputy provost of the College.
"I love Dartmouth," he said. "But on the other hand, the opportunity to have more direct responsibility for developing the quality of an institution was attractive, so I decided now was a good time to make the leap."
But Pipes said leaving Dartmouth will be difficult, since he has been at the College for 24 years.
"My whole academic career has been at Dartmouth," he said.
Those who have worked closely with Pipes said he is a hard worker who will be sorely missed.
Provost Lee Bollinger said Pipes "educated" him about Dartmouth when Bollinger arrived in July, 1994 and said Pipes "has been a pleasure to work with."
"It is a real loss, for both the provost's office and the College as a whole," Bollinger said.
Religion Chair Hans Penner, who was the Dean of the Faculty in 1984 when Pipes became an associate dean of the faculty for the sciences and dean of graduate studies, said Pipes "did a remarkable job."
Pipes said Franklin and Marshall wanted him to make his move before the end of the academic year so he could participate in the major curriculum review at the school.
One reason Pipes said he was willing to go to Franklin and Marshall is because of its similarities to Dartmouth. Both schools are small liberal arts colleges, and Pipes said he was impressed with Franklin and Marshall's "strong sense of community," which reminds him of Dartmouth.
Pipes has taught physics at least one term every year since he became an administrator 12 years ago and said he hopes to continue teaching at Franklin and Marshall.
"I've already told them I'd like to continue to teach," Pipes said. "And I'll be a member of the physics faculty there."
Pipes came to the College in 1972 as a professor of physics. Ironically, he sent a letter of inquiry to Dartmouth without ever seeing the College or even knowing whether a position was available in the physics department.
In 1984, Pipes became an associate dean of the faculty for the sciences and dean of graduate studies.
Pipes moved across the Green to Parkhurst Hall in 1990, when he became the associate provost for academic affairs under then-Provost John Strohbehn.
When Strohbehn stepped down as provost in 1993, Pipes assumed the duties of acting provost until Bollinger arrived in July, 1994. Upon Bollinger's arrival, Pipes took on the title of deputy provost.
Pipes received his B.A. in physics from Rice University in 1963 and his M.S. in physics at Stanford University a year later. He earned his Ph.D. in physics at Stanford in 1970.
