ITHACA, N.Y. -- G. Peter Lepage, chair of the Cornell University Department of Physics since July 1999, will serve as interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences for a one-year term, beginning July 1. The appointment was announced by Provost Biddy Martin, in consultation with President Hunter Rawlings and President-elect Jeffrey Lehman.

Martin informed the College of Arts and Sciences faculty today (May 12) that Robert Fefferman, the Louis Block Professor and former chair of the Department of Mathematics at the University of Chicago, had decided, after what he has described as a difficult decision-making process, to accept the position of dean of physical sciences at the University of Chicago, where he has spent his entire academic career.

Martin said that Lepage was particularly well-qualified to assume the interim deanship: "As chair of physics, Peter has worked closely with faculty across disciplines and colleges, as well as with the university administration. He has been an excellent chair; his thoughtful, energetic and imaginative leadership has been invaluable during a period when the department and its research centers are undergoing significant change and renewal."

She added, "Peter served ably this past year as a member of the dean's search committee, developing a keener appreciation of the college's needs and opportunities, and displaying, in the process, his capacity to think incisively and creatively, his sense of humor, his warmth, his ability to listen and his decisiveness. The committee spent a considerable amount of time over the course of the year discussing the significance of a liberal arts education and the specificity of Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences. Peter's participation and interest in those discussions have helped prepare him to lead the college in deliberations about campaign priorities, student recruitment, faculty hiring and the future of the college more generally. Peter enjoys the respect and admiration of his colleagues on the search committee for his hard work and good judgment."

Rawlings said, "Peter Lepage is a superb scientist and teacher who has considerable experience with broad issues at Cornell. He is thus extremely well-suited to lead the College of Arts and Sciences. I am delighted with his appointment."Lepage commented on his new role: "I am very excited by this opportunity to work with the students, faculty, staff and alumni of the Arts College, and with the broader university. The growing relevance of a liberal arts education in our society today gives the Arts College a central role in the university, as does its superb instructional and research programs in the humanities, sciences and social sciences. It will be an honor to represent the college and a pleasure to work to improve it."

Sally McConnell-Ginet, professor of linguistics and a member of the dean search committee, enthusiastically endorsed the selection: "Peter certainly has my respect and admiration; he seems to me someone who has a good sense for what matters and what doesn't, someone who thinks carefully and without prejudice before endorsing a position, and someone who is aboveboard and absolutely trustworthy. In my opinion, the college is very fortunate indeed that he has agreed to step into the deanship next year."

Another member of the dean search committee, Jeffrey J. Doyle, professor of plant pathology and director of the undergraduate biology program, echoed the praise: "Peter's thoughtful and principled approach to issues will serve him and the college well. . . . [He] is the kind of person I can visualize coming to, as a department chairperson with a problem to solve, without any hesitation and with complete confidence that he would listen with interest and concern, and that his decision would be an ethical one that would, in his opinion, serve the best interests of the college."

Lepage will succeed Philip E. Lewis, the Harold Tanner Dean of the College, who will continue as a member of the faculty in the Department of Romance Studies. During his tenure as dean, Lewis was particularly successful in a number of key initiatives, including the college's success in raising $29.1 million during the university's $171 million undergraduate scholarship campaign. He also instituted curriculum changes, including changes in the undergraduate distribution requirements; creation of the Visual Studies Program; renewed commitment to the Program in Ethics and Public Life; the reinvigoration of sociology; and the addition of career advising to an integrated Office of Admissions and Advising.

Lewis also carried out the dissolution of the Department of Modern Languages and integration of language instruction with literature and cultural studies. He presided over the $19 million "Lincoln Hall Renaissance"; the $12 million renovation of White Hall as the new home for the departments of Government, Near Eastern Studies and History of Art and the Visual Studies Program; reconfiguration of space throughout the college; and a major study of space and facilities needs for the physical sciences.

Lepage earned his B.Sc. degree at McGill University in honours physics and his Ph.D. in physics at Stanford University in 1978 under Stanley Brodsky. He was initially appointed as a research associate at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, and came to Cornell's Laboratory of Nuclear Studies in 1978 as a research associate. He joined the Cornell faculty in 1980 and has spent his entire professorial career as a physicist in the College of Arts and Sciences. Lepage received tenure after only four years as an assistant professor and was promoted to professor in 1990. He 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.

A theoretical particle physicist whose recent research has focused upon numerical simulations of quantum field theories such as QCD, the fundamental theory of quarks and gluons that describes the internal structure of protons, neutrons and other sub-nuclear particles, Lepage and his collaborators have recently completed the first high-precision, nonperturbative calculations in the 30-year history of QCD.

His 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 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 and his wife, Deborah O'Connor, have lived in Ithaca for 25 years and have three sons: Michael, who will be a junior in Arts and Sciences; Daniel, who will be a freshman in Arts and Sciences in the fall; and Matthew, who is beginning high school. O'Connor has a degree in pharmacology from Stanford, worked in biochemistry at Cornell and is currently a candidate for the Ithaca School Board.