Darryl Tippens retiring from Pepperdine, returning to ACU

ACU Today reports:

When he left Abilene Christian University’s English faculty 13 years ago to become Pepperdine University’s chief academic officer, Dr. Darryl Tippens reminded his long-faced friends and colleagues here that “The road between Pepperdine and Abilene is two-way.”

Darryl Tippens He was right.

Pepperdine announced today that Tippens will retire July 31, 2014, but his next career move is decidedly eastward and features an Aug. 1 return to ACU, where a new role will combine his talents as a teacher, writer, researcher and scholar in an advisory role to Abilene Christian administrators.

Tippens has been Pepperdine’s provost since 2001, and is being saluted by the California university as “a steady voice for the essential and historical link between scholarship and faith,” according to its president and CEO, Andrew K. Benton.

He returns to ACU as its first University Distinguished Scholar of Faith, Learning and Literature. The externally funded position will include serving as senior advisor for academic initiatives.

Read the full story.

See Pepperdine’s announcement on Tippens’ retirement.