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.

In his first years as Chancellor, Kimpton imposed significant University-wide budget cuts, balancing the university’s budget for the first time since the Depression. In 1955, he instigated a large development campaign which raised funds for expansion and endowments. Through the last five years of his tenure, Kimpton oversaw the construction of 15 new campus buildings and a 30 percent increase in faculty salaries.

While improving the university’s financial situation, Kimpton also worked to improve the Hyde Park area. Many neighborhood buildings had been poorly maintained since the Depression, and overcrowding had caused problems in infrastructure and security. Kimpton assisted in the creation of the South East Chicago Commission (SECC), a group which coordinated broad-based urban renewal projects throughout Hyde Park-Kenwood. More than 20 percent of buildings in the neighborhood were removed and rehabilitated through renewal projects. Kimpton, serving as president of the SECC, oversaw the allocation of federal, state, local, and private funds to projects aimed at improving housing, infrastructure, and safety in the Hyde Park area. Reflecting on this work, Kimpton "acknowledged that the urban renewal program did not solve the problems of the city’s slums – only that it had saved the university."

Within the academic sphere, Kimpton brought the undergraduate curriculum back into alignment with national standards and expectations. Under Hutchins, the College had accepted students after completing tenth grade, granting a bachelor’s degree after the college sophomore year. Kimpton reinstated a traditional College program, with a four-year sequence beginning after twelfth grade.

After fulfilling his three major goals of financial stability, neighborhood security, and curricular standardization, Kimpton resigned in 1960. He worked as an executive for Standard Oil of Indiana until his 1971 retirement.

From the guide to the University of Chicago. Office of the President. Kimpton Administration. Records, 1892-1960, (Special Collections Research Center University of Chicago Library 1100 East 57th Street Chicago, Illinois 60637 U.S.A.)