ALEC GALLIMORE wanted to be an astronaut when he grew up. He’s never left the planet, but instead designed the engines that could take humans to Mars and back. After 30-plus years on the faculty at the University of Michigan and as dean of its engineering college, Gallimore was ready for a fresh challenge.
He found that at Duke, joining the university as its provost in July 2023.
Academia runs deep in Gallimore’s life. His parents, both Jamaican immigrants to the U.S., were students for much of his childhood, both receiving doctoral degrees. We sat down with Duke’s chief academic officer to learn about him – including, of course, his favorite sci-fi film and rock guitarists.
Gallimore, as we learned, is much more than a rocket scientist.
DukeMag: Can you talk about being raised by parents who were still undergraduates?
Alex Gallimore: One of the earliest memories I had was a highlighter, because I got to see my parents study. The other is, I think for relief, my dad used to build and meticulously paint and put decals on model airplanes. He ultimately became a physician, but his sister said he was a frustrated engineer. He had model train tracks in our basement. He worked on cars. I ended up building model airplanes myself as a teenager, so it follows suit.
DM: When you were a kid, did you identify as Jamaican?
AG: The first half of my childhood was in a Black urban environment in northeast Washington, D.C. And then we moved to an all-white suburban environment in New Jersey that was a combination of blue collar and upper salary folks. Their parents were often immigrants, too. As a kid, you're Irish or Italian or Polish, so I was Jamaican. I have pride in describing myself as a Jamaican.
DM: How far back do you and music go?
AG: My dad was definitely an audiophile. He was a collector of American jazz and Caribbean Calypso. It's funny, the more I speak about these things now, the more I realize I’m a lot like my dad.
DM: Who was the first rock guitarist to give you a “wow!” moment?
AG: A toss-up between two guitarists. The first is Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. “The Song Remains the Same” live album, in particular. He may not have been the most accurate. He certainly wasn't the fastest. But he had a musicality that was unbelievable. The second is Steve Howe of Yes. Although not quite possessing the soul of Jimmy Page, I considered Howe the master at the guitar – fast, accurate, complex and very versatile.
DM: Were you a bedroom guitarist or did you play in bands?
AG: I kind of floated. I never really landed on a band. I was a musician for my high school's play productions. I jammed a lot – you know, kind of a walk-on guitarist. I practiced a lot by myself or with one other guitarist who played rhythm guitar (chords) while I played lead. Although I was pretty fast and accurate, I had a little bit of a phobia of playing publicly. Later on, I had a phobia of speaking publicly, too. I didn't want to play out in public unless I thought I had really mastered some stuff.
DM: You saw “2001: A Space Odyssey” as a four-year old.
AG: It had me at hello.
DM: What is it about Arthur C. Clarke's imagination, especially in “2001”?
AG: I love this book. First of all, Clarke was an engineer. He goes into details of how the technology works. I do appreciate that realism. If you want to get me annoyed, show me a movie where there's an obvious violation of physics. I liked the fact that Clarke put in the time to explain the technology.I like that he wove in some interesting storytelling and some novel, thought-provoking concepts, too.
DM: As a kid, you wanted to be an astronaut – but you don't become an astronaut.
AG: I always wanted to make the engines. When I was a junior in high school, I met with the dean of students at CalTech. And I remember he asked me, “What do you want to do?” And I said, “Well, I need an undergraduate degree, probably in aerospace engineering. And I know I need to get my Ph.D. in plasma physics, because I want to design a fusion rocket propulsion system that allows us to go to Mars. I want to be one of the astronauts, to be on that spacecraft.” I was serious. So why did I go into academia? It became abundantly clear that I couldn’t go right from graduate school to be a successful astronaut candidate; I needed to work first. I wanted to work on something interesting that would let me keep doing my research and work with smart, exciting people. And I found I really enjoyed it. I loved teaching. I loved setting up a lab and working with graduate students.
DM: You were at the University of Michigan for more than three decades. Why did you say yes to Duke?
AG: Frankly, if I'm comfortable, I become uncomfortable a little bit. For 12, 13 years, I’d been in the senior administration of the College of Engineering. I wanted a new adventure. I had been a very collaborative dean; I had purposefully gone beyond the confines of the College of Engineering to work across the university. Being a provost had appealed to me because you get the full picture of things. Duke has a reputation of having a great provost position. There is responsibility and authority at the same time. When you have mismatch, that's a problem. Another one is Duke’s President Vince Price. I knew him when he was a provost at Penn, and always admired and liked him. I still do! That was compelling.
DM: The faculty here – pick any one of them and they're a world expert. How do you lead a group like that?
AG: I was meeting with a group of faculty members, and they asked me, “What advice do you have for mid-career people [who want to move into academic leadership]?” I said, “I think it’s important that you keep up your scholarship.” Part of it is for street cred. Part of it is just to keep your mind sharp, to be in a mode where you’re constantly curious and learning. I think people react to that very positively. I always want to know about people’s scholarship. As a provost, you are a member of the faculty. You are a scholar; you understand what it means to be a scholar. It's a matter of doing more listening than talking. When I meet people for the first time, I ask them, “What are you most proud of?” You learn a lot about people, and it’s a great way to engage and try to understand their scholarship. I go to faculty meetings; I believe in just getting out and talking to people.
DM: What does a provost do?
AG: The provost is the chief academic officer. The provost is the person who is responsible for the academic operations of this university – faculty governance, research, teaching, services like the libraries, the Duke Lemur Center, Duke University Press, and so on.
DM: I’ve been reading about your work in equity. How do you bring that work forward to Duke?
AG: It’s important to be consistent and persistent, to remind people of the value proposition, to make it core to our mission. Anyone can develop exquisite technology for the rich. It’s much harder to develop it for everyone.
DM: I'll ask you the question you ask the faculty. What are you proudest of from your first year at Duke?
AG: I am proudest of how much this community has embraced me. We have an awesome team, and we’ve had a strong year. At a Board of Trustees meeting, Sanford and Divinity School professor Abdullah Antepli referred to me as “our beloved provost.” That was just heartwarming. Everywhere I go on this campus I hear, “Hey Alec!” That's what I want.