A lifelong leader in academia and an esteemed scholar of constitutional law, Gerhard Casper served as Stanford University’s president from 1992-2000. During that time, his commitment to excellence in both undergraduate and graduate education resulted in a number of major initiatives. A decorated academic, Professor Casper holds honorary doctorates from Yale and Uppsala Universities, Bard College, and the Central European University. He has been elected to membership in the American Law Institute, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the International Academy of Comparative Law, the Order Pour le mérite for the Sciences and Arts, and the American Philosophical Society. During the fall of 2006, he held the Kluge Chair in American Law and Governance at the Library of Congress. He has served as a successor trustee of Yale University (2000-2008) and is serving on the boards of trustees of the American Academy in Berlin (2000-2009 and 2015-) and the Central European University in Budapest (2000-2012 and 2017-). He is a member of international advisory councils at the Israel Democracy Institute, the European University at St. Petersburg, and Koç University, Istanbul.

Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1992, Professor Casper was a longtime faculty member at the University of Chicago, where he served as the provost of the university, the dean of the law school, and a professor of law. He began his career as a professor of political science at the University of California at Berkeley.