Gerhard Casper | |
|---|---|
 | |
| 9th President ofStanford University | |
| In office September 1, 1992[1] – August 31, 2000 | |
| Preceded by | Donald Kennedy |
| Succeeded by | John L. Hennessy |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1937-12-25)December 25, 1937 (age 88) |
| Alma mater | University of Hamburg (LLB) Yale University (LLM) University of Freiburg (PhD) |
| Profession | Political Scientist |
Gerhard Casper (born December 25, 1937)[2] is a political scientist. He served as 9th president ofStanford University from 1992 to 2000, as the8th dean of theUniversity of Chicago Law School from 1979 to 1987, and as provost of theUniversity of Chicago from 1989 to 1992.[3] He served as president of theAmerican Academy in Berlin from July 2015 to July 2016 and as the institution's trustee-in-residence from August 2019 to January 2020.[4][5][6]
Casper is also a senior fellow at theFreeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI) at Stanford, and served as the institute's director between September 2012 and June 2013.[7] Casper is also the Peter and Helen Bing Professor in Undergraduate Education, emeritus, and is a professor withemeritus status atStanford Law School.
Born December 25, 1937, Gerhard Casper grew up inHamburg, Germany. He earned his firstlaw degree from theUniversity of Hamburg in 1961. In 1962, he received hisLL.M. fromYale University. He then attended theUniversity of Freiburg, where he obtained hisdoctorate in 1964.
In the fall of 1964, Casper emigrated to the United States and spent two years as an assistant professor of political science at theUniversity of California, Berkeley. In 1966, he joined the faculty of theUniversity of Chicago Law School. Between 1979 and 1987, he served as dean of the law school. In 1989, Casper was appointed provost of theUniversity of Chicago and served in that capacity until 1992. He served as president ofStanford University from 1992 to 2000.
Casper has written and taught primarily in the fields of constitutional law, constitutional history, comparative law, and legal theory. Among his books isSeparating Power (Harvard University Press, 1997). From 1977 to 1990, he was an editor ofThe Supreme Court Review.
In 1992, Casper became the ninth president of Stanford University. His concerns as president ranged from resolution of the indirect cost dispute with the federal government to restoration of the campus after the1989 Loma Prieta earthquake to innovation in curriculum, programs, and physical plant.
Casper's Commission on Undergraduate Education[8] was the first comprehensive examination of undergraduate education at Stanford in 25 years. The commission and other faculty initiatives led to a new approach to the first two years of college, Stanford Introductory Studies (SIS),[9] which provides small-group learning and research experiences. SIS includes the Freshman and Sophomore Introductory Seminars and Sophomore College.
Casper kept tuition increases to a minimum while increasing financial aid.
Casper also initiated the Stanford Graduate Fellowships and helped raise a substantial endowment for their support. The purpose of the Stanford Graduate Fellowships is to attract the best graduate students and give them full freedom to pursue their work at Stanford without worrying about the vagaries of sponsored research or other traditional sources of support.
Recruitment and retention of exceptional faculty members who excel in both research and teaching was emphasized during Casper's presidency through Research Grants for Junior Faculty in the three schools that offer undergraduate degrees: Earth Sciences, Engineering, and Humanities and Sciences. The university's bureaucracy was also streamlined through internal reorganizations and a reduction in the number of vice presidential positions.
The integration of the Stanford Alumni Association into the university in 1998 enhanced outreach to Stanford's alumni worldwide. Donations to Stanford, especially from alumni, increased sharply under Casper's leadership, with particular emphasis on fortifying Stanford's endowment and increasing participation through the creation of the Stanford Fund for Undergraduate Education.
During Casper's presidency, the physical infrastructure of the campus improved substantially. Restoration of buildings damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake was completed, and the architectural value of new buildings was enhanced with competitions attracting some of the world's most gifted architects. The 1893 Leland Stanford Junior Museum became part of an expanded complex, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts. The reconstructed Bing Wing of Cecil H. Green Library opened in 1999, a decade after the severe damage inflicted by the Loma Prieta earthquake closed its doors. Other new constructions included the Science and Engineering Quad, the Center for Clinical Sciences Research, graduate residences, and the Arrillaga Alumni Center.
In 1993, Casper choseCondoleezza Rice as provost of the university. She was succeeded in 1999 byJohn L. Hennessy. In 2000, Hennessy became the tenth president of the university. About the Stanford presidency, Casper wroteCares of the University[10] (Stanford, CA, 1997), in which he addressed many issues facing the contemporary university. His most recent book about higher education isThe Winds of Freedom: Addressing Challenges to the University, which was published byYale University Press in 2014.[11]
In July 2015, Casper was appointed one-year interim president of theAmerican Academy in Berlin, an institute for culture and research founded in 1994 by AmbassadorRichard Holbrooke. The independent, privately funded, nonpartisan American Academy in Berlin seeks to improve cultural and academic ties between Germany and the USA. Since August 2019, Casper has served as the American Academy's trustee-in-residence. He returned to the Academy's board in 2015, after having previously served as trustee from 2000 to 2009.[12]
While acting as president, Casper arranged a visit byNobel Prize winnerEric Kandel, in September 2015, who discussed "The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain."[13] Casper also helped to oversee the Richard C. Holbrooke Forum, which was created remembering the Academy's founder.[14]
The intercultural and interdisciplinary setting and the creative program made the Academy a prestigious center according to the German magazineDer Spiegel.[15]
Casper has been elected to membership in theAmerican Law Institute, theInternational Academy of Comparative Law, theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Orden Pour le mérite für Wissenschaften und Künste (Order Pour le mérite for the Sciences and Arts),[16] and theAmerican Philosophical Society.[17] During the fall of 2006, he held theKluge Chair in American Law and Governance at theLibrary of Congress.[18] He has been awarded various honorary doctorates. On May 26, 2000 Casper received anhonorary doctorate from the Faculty of Social Sciences atUppsala University,Sweden[19] That spring, he also received anhonorary doctorate fromYale.[20]
In 1997, Casper received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.[21]
Casper is the 2014 recipient of theAmerican Law Institute's Distinguished Service Award.[22] He served on ALI's Council from 1980 to 2010, and continues to participate as an emeritus member. From 2000 to 2008, he served as a successor trustee of Yale University. From 2010 to 2016, he was chairman of the Board of theTerra Foundation for American Art. Casper is a trustee of theCentral European University inBudapest and a member of international advisory councils at theIsrael Democracy Institute, theEuropean University at St. Petersburg, and Koç University, Istanbul.
Casper also has the honor of having been the subject of the first Google search by someone not a part of the Google team. In 1998, the future founders ofGoogle were demonstrating their search software forJohn Hennessy. He chose to search for "Gerhard Casper".[23]
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| Academic offices | ||
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| Preceded by | President of Stanford University 1992–2000 | Succeeded by |
