Andrew Hippisley, dean of Wichita State’s Fairmount College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has accepted a position as vice provost for Academic Affairs at The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). His last day at WSU will be July 2.

David Eichhorn, associate dean of the Fairmount College, will fill in as interim dean while the university conducts a national search for Hippisley’s replacement. 

Hippisley has been dean at Wichita State for six years. During his time as dean, the Fairmount College has seen unprecedented growth in research, with proposal dollars nearly doubling from $22 million to $40 million a year and external dollars received increasing from $7 million to more than $13 million a year. Research strategies developed in this time include a discipline-specific workload policy and a buy-out policy. 
 
In his time at WSU, Hippisley also helped launch new programs such as the Master of Mathematical Data Science, Bachelor of Applied Linguistics, Bachelor of American Sign Language, Associate of Sciences, and certificates in Sustainability Studies, ArcGIS and Space Sciences. In addition, he helped create new academic pathways through the Law 3+3 program with University of Kansas School of Law, a 4+3 pathway with the Kansas College of Osteopathic Medicine, and articulation agreements with multiple community colleges. 

“Under my leadership, the college has overhauled its requirements to reframe them as competencies that are outcomes of a liberal arts education in order to make explicit the career-readiness value of a liberal arts and sciences education,” he says.
 
Community engagement has also been one of Hippisley’s priorities as he made strong efforts to strengthen the college’s ties with its alumni base. In partnership with the WSU Foundation, Hippisley has helped secure $24 million to support the mission of the Fairmount College and has developed new industrial and business partnerships, including a legal professions advisory board and an industrial math clinic.   
 
“It has been a pleasure working with Dean Hippisley as both a fellow dean and as a colleague over the years,” says Dr. Shirley Lefever, provost and executive vice president of Wichita State. “He has brought a vision of collaboration and strategic thinking during his tenure that has resulted in more interdisciplinary programs and increased research productivity across several departments in the college. We wish him well in his new role.”

Wichita State University is Kansas' only urban public research university, enrolling more than 23,000 students between its main campus and WSU Tech, including students from every state in the U.S. and more than 100 countries. Wichita State and WSU Tech are recognized for being student centered and innovation driven.

Located in the largest city in the state with one of the highest concentrations in the United States of jobs involving science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), Wichita State University provides uniquely distinctive and innovative pathways of applied learning, applied research and career opportunities for all of our students.

The Innovation Campus, which is a physical extension of the Wichita State University main campus, is one of the nation’s largest and fastest-growing research/innovation parks, encompassing over 120 acres and is home to a number of global companies and organizations.

Follow Wichita State on social media:

• LinkedIn
• Instagram
• YouTube
• X | Twitter
• Facebook