Brother Norman Hipps stepping down as Saint Vincent College president

Brother Norman Hipps plans to step down as the 17th president of Saint Vincent College in June, at the end of his ninth year in the role.

Hipps, 75, was first affiliated with the Catholic liberal arts and sciences college in Unity in 1972, when he joined the faculty as an associate professor of mathematics. Leaving two years later to complete doctoral studies in math at Northwestern University, he returned in 1976 and has remained at Saint Vincent since.

He also is a member of the local Benedictine community that founded the college 169 years ago.

Hipps submitted a resignation letter this week but said he’d been discussing making the transition for the past year.

“Given where we are in terms of my age and the capital campaign, it seemed to be the right time,” he said Wednesday.

One of the high points of his term that Hipps will leave for his successor is a capital campaign that has raised about $94 million — closing in on the goal of $100 million, the largest ever set at the college. “There are a couple of gifts that are pending,” Hipps said.

Of the total, $40 million is planned to support construction of new campus facilities, including an extensive renovation and expansion that is under way at the Dale P. Latimer Library. It is expected to be ready for students in spring 2020.

During Hipps’ administration, the campus also gained the Sis and Herman Dupré Science Pavilion, in 2013, and an extension of that building, the James F. Will Engineering and Biomedical Sciences Hall, in 2017.

The completion of the latter hall paved the way for new degree programs in engineering and integrated science.

Under Hipps’ watch, Saint Vincent also added undergraduate programs in criminology, law and society, philosophy/politics and philosophy/theology; graduate programs in criminology, instructional design and technology, and counselor education; and a doctorate in nurse anesthesia practice.

Hipps remarked on the rapid growth of the criminology program, now with an enrollment of 106 undergraduates — second in enrollment only to biology — and 35 graduate students.

He said Saint Vincent has a tradition of offering liberal arts and career-oriented programs that support each other.

One of the college’s challenges is to “be convincing of young people that that’s better in terms of their ability, not only to get their first job, but to advance throughout their career,” Hipps said. “I think Saint Vincent needs to be faithful to that tradition while we recognize the kind of changes that are happening, whether it’s in technology or social science disciplines or in the sciences.”

Saint Vincent officials have touted the college’s progress in attracting a greater diversity of students — racially, geographically and from underserved populations. In the fall 2018 semester, 14 percent of students were from racial and ethnic minorities and 38 percent were first-generation college students.

Hipps, however, said he’s disappointed the college hasn’t been able to attract more international students. The student body includes 16 foreign undergraduate students, representing eight countries, and six foreign graduate students.

“What has impressed me about Br. Norman’s presidency is that it has never been about enhancing himself, but always about putting the success of our students first,” college board Chairman Chris Donahue said in a statement.

Saint Vincent officials hope to have Hipps’ successor in place in July.

Donahue and Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, the college’s chancellor, appointed an Ad Hoc Committee on the Presidency to set qualifications for a successor. The committee includes representatives from the board, faculty, administration, student government and alumni.

The chancellor will review the committee’s report and determine if there is a Benedictine candidate for president to recommend to the board for approval.

Hipps said stepping down as president will allow him to return to teaching math at Saint Vincent.

“I’d like to do something that perhaps the students have not had a chance to see in mathematics: working with infinity,” he said.