Michael Pippenger was appointed vice president and associate provost for internationalization at the University of Notre Dame in 2016. As the University’s chief international officer, he oversees Notre Dame’s global strategy to become the world’s premier Catholic research university. He leads Notre Dame International, the division of 195 people worldwide responsible for the University’s global operations and programs. This includes the management of 12 global locations as well as administrative teams for strategy, innovation, and faculty research; international students and scholars; study abroad; communications; and travel health and safety. He chairs nine faculty committees, including the University Committee on Internationalization, dedicated to providing good faculty governance and engagement in the university’s global work.
Notre Dame is celebrated in the U.S. for both its high percentage of undergraduates who study abroad and for being one of the top receivers and producers of International Fulbright Scholars. Its global locations—in London, Rome, Jerusalem, Dublin, Kylemore, Nairobi, Beijing, Hong Kong, Mexico, Chile, and Brazil—provide platforms for faculty research and study abroad, cultural and educational public programming, and engagement with prospective students and parents, alumni, businesses, governmental, and non-profit agencies. Under his leadership, in 2023, Notre Dame won the Heiskell Award for Strategic Partnerships from the Institute of International Education for the University’s Standing in Solidarity with Ukrainian Catholic University initiative.
A recognized leader in the field of global education, Pippenger has represented the United States of America at the request of the U.S. Department of State as an International Visitor. He speaks on issues regarding international leadership, global citizenship, and the state of higher education around the world. He serves as a board member of the University of Notre Dame in England, the American University of Madaba, and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association, and is a member of the American Association of International Educator’s Public Policy Committee.
Before coming to Notre Dame, he served as an Assistant Vice President of Columbia University, where he created the Office of International Fellowships and the University’s first centralized office for undergraduate global education. Previously, he held positions at New York University and at IIE, where he managed the Foreign Fulbright Scholarship program for Asia and the Pacific.
Pippenger is a magna cum laude graduate of Carleton College and holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in English literature from Indiana University, with a focus on post-colonial literatures and Victorian Studies. He conducted research as a Fulbright Scholar to Australia. An award-winning teacher, he holds a faculty appointment at Notre Dame and has taught at New York University, Indiana University Bloomington, and the City College of New York.