Last modified: Friday, November 1, 2002
Gerald L. Bepko biography
Gerald L. Bepko is Indiana University vice president for long-range planning and chancellor of Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) -- a core campus of Indiana University. IUPUI enrolls more than 29,000 students in 20 schools and offers IU or Purdue degrees in more than 180 programs of undergraduate and graduate study.
Since his appointment in 1986, Bepko has led a movement to unify the various programs of IUPUI by bringing three important schools to the West Michigan Street campus: the Purdue School of Science, the Purdue School of Engineering and Technology, and the IU Herron School of Art. Bepko also has led efforts to establish IUPUI as a major urban campus that is classified among the best in its peer group. He has led a renewed emphasis on undergraduate education, culminating in the establishment of University College, dedicated in 1998 at a ceremony at which the principal speaker was Secretary of Education Richard Riley.
During his tenure, enrollment has grown by nearly 25 percent, and external support for faculty activities has grown from $38 million in 1986 to more than $200 million in the current year. In 1997, the IU hospitals were successfully consolidated with Methodist Hospitals of Indiana to form Clarian Health Partners Inc., an important economic development strategy for Indiana, an anchor for Indiana's health industry, and a solution to some of the challenges of academic medicine. In 1998, the University Consortium for Advanced Internet Development placed the network operations center for Internet2 on the IUPUI campus.
Bepko has led the fund-raising Campaign for IUPUI, which is now close to its goal of $700 million -- a goal that should be achieved well in advance of the scheduled conclusion in June 2004. As IU vice president for long-range planning, he coordinated the development of Indiana University's "Strategic Directions Charter: Becoming America's New Public University."
In March, Bepko announced that he would retire as IUPUI chancellor at the end of the 2002-03 academic year. A search is now under way for his successor.
Bepko has stayed active in his principal academic field of law as a member of the Permanent Editorial Board of the Uniform Commercial Code and as a life member of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws.
He has played a leadership role in higher education organizations by serving as the chair of the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges (NASULGC) Commission on the Urban Agenda, as a member of the NASULGC board and as chair of various acceditation site visit teams.
Bepko stays active in the community by participating on the boards of First Indiana Corp., Indianapolis Life Insurance Co., Citizens Gas, and Lumina Foundation for Education. He also is a volunteer member of many nonprofit boards and currently serves as chair of the board of the Indiana Convention and Visitors Association.
Bepko joined the Indiana University faculty at the School of Law-Indianapolis in 1972, becoming a full professor in 1975, associate dean for academic affairs in 1979, and dean of the law school in 1981. He has been a visiting professor at the University of Illinois, Ohio State University and Indiana University Bloomington.
He is married to the former Jean B. Cougnenc of New York, and they have two children, Gerald L. Jr. and Arminda.
