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Meet Philip J. Hanlon ’77

Philip J. Hanlon ’77

Philip J. Hanlon ’77, the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at the University of Michigan, will become the 18th President of Dartmouth College on July 1, 2013. He will be the 10th Dartmouth alumnus to serve as its president and the first since the 1981 to 1987 tenure of David T. McLaughlin ’54, Tuck ’55.

President-Elect Hanlon, 57, who is the Donald J. Lewis Professor of Mathematics at the University of Michigan, earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Dartmouth, from which he graduated Phi Beta Kappa. An accomplished academic and administrative leader, Hanlon has been a University of Michigan faculty member since 1986 and has served in a succession of administrative leadership roles at Michigan for more than a decade. He was appointed provost in 2010.

About President-Elect Hanlon

As a mathematician, Hanlon focuses on probability and combinatorics, the study of finite structures and their significance as they relate to bioinformatics, computer science, and other fields. Hanlon has earned numerous honors and awards for his mathematical research, including a Sloan Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Henry Russel Award, and the National Science Foundation Presidential Young Investigator Award. He also holds an Arthur F. Thurnau Professorship, the University of Michigan’s highest recognition of faculty whose commitment to undergraduate teaching has had a demonstrable impact on the intellectual development and lives of their students.

Hanlon is married to Gail Gentes, the director of research and faculty support at the Ross School of Business within the University of Michigan. The couple has three children, all in their 20s.

Hanlon on Dartmouth:

“It shaped my life.”

“At Dartmouth I learned the power of the life of the mind, the power of the intellect,” says Philip J. Hanlon ’77, Dartmouth’s president-elect. “It transformed my life. I know it can transform the lives of others. That’s why it’s such an important institution.”

What People Are Saying:

Congratulations and Commentary

Members of the Dartmouth Presidential Search Committee and Michigan colleagues call President-Elect Philip J. Hanlon ’77 a brilliant scholar, an exceptional teacher, and an inspirational leader. Dartmouth’s presidency is the next logical step in his career, they say.