Kimpton, Lawrence Alpheus, 1910-

Lawrence A. Kimpton (1910-1977) was raised in Kansas City, Missouri, attended college at Stanford, and completed a Ph.D. in philosophy at Cornell University in 1935. He worked in California and Nevada throughout the late 1930s, teaching at the experimental Deep Springs College and working as a cattle rancher. He came to Chicago in 1943 to work as Chief Administrative Officer of the Metallurgical Laboratory, associated with the Manhattan Project.

University Chancellor Robert Maynard Hutchins hired Kimpton as Dean of Students in 1944. Kimpton later recalled that in his brief interview, Hutchins asked, "Don’t you think the University is lousy? Don’t you think great books are great? And isn’t the function of an educational institution to educate?" Kimpton agreed, and after also admitting he knew absolutely nothing about student matters, Hutchins immediately offered him the job. In 1947, Kimpton returned to Stanford, where he served as Dean of Students for three years. In 1950, he was re-hired by the University of Chicago as Vice-President of Development. When Hutchins resigned in 1951, Kimpton was named as his successor.

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