Kilpinen ’88 Named Dean of VU College of Arts and Sciences

Jon T. Kilpinen ’88, chair of the department of geography and meteorology since 2000, has been named dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Valparaiso University effective July 1.

Kilpinen, who joined the VU faculty in 1992, replaces Albert Trost ’62, who is retiring as dean after holding that position since 1996.  Trost will return to the classroom as a professor of political science.

An honors graduate of Valpo with majors in geography and history, Kilpinen earned master’s and doctor of philosophy degrees in geography from the University of Texas at Austin.

“I am both humbled and excited by this appointment,” Kilpinen says.  “The talent within the college is exceptional, and I believe we have an opportunity to forge a stronger identity for the college that recognizes this excellence.”

Kilpinen played a significant role in planning for Kallay-Christopher Hall, which opened last year and provides nearly 17,000-square-feet of space for the department of geography and meteorology.

He has received numerous grants for his research, much of it dealing with the Western United States, and is an associate fellow of the Center for Great Plains Studies at the University of Nebraska.  He also participated in a National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute on “Boundaries and Borderlands: The Search for Recognition and Community in America.”

He is co-author of “The Mountain West,” which was honored by the Pioneer America Society in 1997 as the best book published in the field of American material culture studies.