Charles B. Knapp
1987-97

Biography: b. 8/13/46, Ames, IO. B.S., Iowa State University (1968); M.A./PhD., University of Wisconsin (1972).
Knapp taught economics at the University of Texas at Austin from 1972-76. He went to Washington D.C. at the request of the Carter Administration, and served as Special Assistant to the Secretary of Labor from 1977-79. In that latter year, he became Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor, a post he held until 1981. Knapp served as an Associate Professor of Public Policy at George Washington University in 1981-82, and transferred to Tulane University in 1982, where he taught Economics and served as Senior and Executive Vice President of the university from 1985-87. In that year, he accepted the President's position at the University of Georgia, a post that he holds today. He will leave the University to take over the Presidency of the Aspen Institute in Washington D.C. in the latter half of 1997.

Accomplishments: In his tenure as President of the University of Georgia, Dr. Knapp was charged with re-establishing confidence in the academic reputation of the University, and with the added responsibility of preparing the institution for assuming a leadership role in national and global research, service, and higher education. He accomplished this through forging a strong working relationship with state government officials, school alumni, and private sector benefactors and business leaders. The tangible signs of his leadership are many and varied, the chief amongst these being the realization of the opening of a new campus sector, as East Campus became in the mid 1990s the new center for performing arts physical fitness, university community health, the new Georgia Museum of Art, and the new gateway to the University as a whole. This complex came into operation just as the University welcomed the world as host to three Olympic activities in the Olympic summer of 1996; preliminary round volleyball, all of the rhythmic gymnastics competitions, and the final rounds of soccer in a refurbished (and temporarily hedgeless Sanford Stadium). As Dr. Knapp takes his leave of Athens and UGA, he leaves a legacy of an institution poised on the edge of greatness as it moves with confidence into a new century and a new millenium.

Buildings: Biological Sciences Complex (1992); Ramsey Center (1995); Music Department (1996); Hodgson Hall (1996); Georgia Museum of Art (1996); Rusk Center for Legal Research (1996); UGA Welcome Center (1996).

Last Update: March 13, 2001 Comments to: hargrett@arches.uga.edu Copyright © University of Georgia. All rights reserved URL=http://www.libs.uga.edu/hargrett/pexhibit/presiden/knappcb.html