ITHACA, N.Y. -- G. Peter Lepage has been appointed the Harold Tanner Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University, Cornell President Jeffrey Lehman announced today (Dec. 17). Lepage, former chair of the university's Department of Physics, had been serving as interim dean of the college since July 1, 2003.

"Peter Lepage personifies the greatness of the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a true intellectual, a researcher whose work has deepened understanding of the fundamental structure of the material world," said Lehman. "He is a great educator, dedicated to the ideals of a liberal education. And he is a natural leader, a person whose generous spirit and determined vision have contributed to the ongoing progress of his department and the college itself."

Lepage will oversee the College of Arts and Sciences, which has approximately 4,300 undergraduate and 1,500 graduate students in more than 50 departments and programs that offer instruction in the humanities and arts, the basic sciences and mathematics and the social sciences. One of the university's oldest and most venerable colleges, it has more than 500 faculty members, many of whom are the most noted in their fields, and about 150 lecturers. The college offers 1,800 undergraduate courses per year.

"I am deeply honored to be named Harold Tanner Dean of Arts and Science," said Lepage. "The college provides the liberal arts core of Cornell's educational programs and leadership in a broad range of research and scholarship. I look forward to continuing to work with faculty, staff, students and alumni, and with the administration and the other colleges, to further enhance this already superb college in a superb university."

A theoretical particle physicist whose recent research has focused on numerical simulations of quantum field theories, Lepage joined the Cornell faculty in 1980 and has spent his entire professorial career as a physicist in the College of Arts and Sciences. "Peter Lepage has made a major contribution to his field by solving QCD and an extraordinary contribution to Cornell with his excellent service as chair of the Department of Physics and interim dean of Arts and Sciences," said Cornell Provost Biddy Martin.

Martin refers to recent research in which Lepage and his collaborators completed the first high-precision, nonperturbative calculations in the 30-year history of quantum chromodynamics or QCD. QCD is the fundamental theory of quarks and gluons that describes the internal structure of protons, neutrons and other sub-nuclear particles. Martin added that, "as Harold Tanner Dean, Peter will combine strong advocacy of the college with intellectual leadership universitywide. His high academic standards, concern about the education of students and his optimism will invigorate the college; his good judgment and collaborative spirit will also make him a strong partner in academic decision-making at the university level."

Lepage's interest in teaching extends from the introductory undergraduate level to advanced graduate research. At the introductory level, he has taken a special interest in new research in physics pedagogy and its application to large introductory courses. He also has also explored opportunities for integrating computer programming into physics courses ranging from large introductory courses for engineers to independent-study courses for advanced physics majors.

Lepage earned his B.Sc. degree at McGill University in honours physics and his M.S. degree (1975) and his Ph.D. (1978) in physics at Stanford University, under Stanley Brodsky. He came from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center to Cornell's Laboratory of Nuclear Studies in 1978 as a research associate. He received tenure after only four years as an assistant professor, and he was promoted to professor in 1990.

Lepage has had visiting appointments at the Institute for Nuclear Theory in Seattle, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago, the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Santa Barbara, the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He was the recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in 1996-97 and an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship in 1990, and he is a fellow of the American Physical Society.

Lepage and his wife, Deborah O'Connor, have lived in Ithaca for 25 years and have three sons: Michael, a Cornell junior; Daniel, a Cornell freshman; and Matthew, who is beginning high school. O'Connor has a degree in pharmacology from Stanford, worked in biochemistry at Cornell and is currently serving on the Ithaca City School District Board of Education.