Wippman is named first international vice provost for university

Wippman

By Linda Myers

David Wippman, professor of law and associate dean for academic affairs, Cornell Law School, has been named Cornell vice provost for international relations. The new post was formally announced by President Jeffrey Lehman today, Dec. 9. Wippman will assume his new duties Jan. 1.

In establishing the new post, Lehman said: "The creation of the vice provost position, combined with our growing presence internationally, will ensure that Cornell can fulfill its mission of teaching, research, service and outreach in a transnational world."

Lehman, who traveled to China in November to sign agreements with two top universities for joint programs there, said: "I believe that we are witnessing the evolutionary development of a truly transnational pluralistic culture -- a culture that includes profoundly important universal aspirations while retaining equally important regional, national and local variation. This is happening despite the persistence of misunderstanding and conflict. Great universities should prepare their students to prosper in such a culture by holding a transnational perspective on the human condition."

Wippman, who noted that the duties of his new position are "still evolving," said that his first task will be to meet with interested faculty, students, senior administrators, deans and program directors to hear their ideas about where Cornell needs to go internationally. "Cornell is already a great transnational university," he said, "but we need to continue to develop and strengthen our international presence. I want to hear ideas for new opportunities and directions that a vice provost could assist." Among other things, he hopes to strengthen support for collaborative research among faculty, conferences and colloquia with an international perspective and to "build partnerships with universities of strategic importance to Cornell in the next 20 years."

Wippman, who was part of the delegation accompanying Lehman to Southeast Asia this November, called the trip "very successful. Not only did we conclude innovative agreements with top universities in China but we laid the groundwork for future agreements with other peer universities in Japan."

Wippman's expertise is in public international law and international human rights, humanitarian law, criminal law and ethnic conflict. He spent a year as director of multilateral and humanitarian affairs at the National Security Council in 1998-99. He earned his B.A. at Princeton University in 1976, his M.A. at Yale University in 1978 and his J.D. at Yale Law School in 1982. He clerked for Judge Wilfred Feinberg, U.S. Court of Appeals, 2nd Circuit, and was a partner in private law practice before joining Cornell Law School as an associate professor in 1992.

He will be succeeded as associate dean for academic affairs at the Law School by Professor Barbara Holden-Smith.