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In the current atmosphere of transition at Hamline, Tipton said she felt it was a good time to see if her experiences here would be valued elsewhere. She did not seek out positions at many other schools, she said, but rather applied to a few colleges “very selectively.”

The announcement that Tipton was leaving came as a surprise to many, but Dean of the CLA Garvin Davenport said people in administrative positions like hers “never let their resumes get dusty,” and that whenever there is a major transition at a university, like hiring a new president, people begin to re-examine their own roles within the community.

Tipton acknowledged that this time of transition at Hamline helped lead her to begin re-examining her options. In some ways, she said, the transitions at Hamline are coincidental - it was time for Larry Osnes to retire, and Davenport is retiring after a long career at Hamline.

Davenport also mentioned that such searches are generally quite confidential, and that the people who needed to know about Tipton’s applications to other universities were well aware of the situation.

Tipton said that she misses some aspects of teaching. “You work with a student in a class on a paper or on a project and you remember that forever.”

Administration has its perks, too, though. “I don’t miss grading papers,” she said with a wry smile. What she enjoys about administration is what she feels many people are not as interested inčshe enjoys solving the “everyday, mundane problems” that come up.

She also enjoys the opportunity to see all of the work that’s been done and “getting to reward (not as often as one would like) all of the good things that happen on campus.”

Highlights of her career at Hamline include her work on the Curriculum Committee and the work begun on the Cultural Breadth component of the Hamline Plan, as well as helping to institute the FYSEM program at Hamline, especially the holistic approach taken to advising and, more recently, expanding some FYSEM programs to go abroad over winter term.