Stephen J. Kopp became president of Marshall University on July 1, 2005.

Prior to his appointment at Marshall, he had been serving as a special assistant to the chancellor with the Ohio Board of Regents. The special assignment, made at the request of the chancellor, Roderick G. W. Chu, involved two areas of responsibility: leading a statewide initiative to advance innovative practices that improve student access, learning productivity and accountability in Ohio public institutions of higher education, and assisting the nation of Hungary on behalf of the board and the state of Ohio with implementing European Union higher education reforms.

Previously, Kopp was provost for two years at Ohio University (2002-2004) in Athens, Ohio, where he shared with the president the central administrative role in the university and served as the chief academic and operating officer. He led the senior administration effort to assist the university’s medical school in privatizing its patient services clinic. He also participated in Ohio University’s $200 million Bicentennial Campaign, raising more than $7 million in major gifts and pledges.

Ohio University houses 10 colleges, including a medical school, and has an enrollment of 19,800 students on the main campus in Athens, and an additional 9,000 students on five regional campuses. As provost, Kopp had the principal responsibility for planning the university budget, which was $540 million in fiscal year 2005, and working with the vice presidents to coordinate internal institutional affairs.

Kopp also was founding dean of the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions at Central Michigan University, and founding dean of the College of Allied Health Professions at Midwestern University. He also served in a variety of positions for nearly 20 years at the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Kopp received his B.S. in Biology in 1973 from the University of Notre Dame, and his Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics in 1976 from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He was a postdoctoral fellow at St. Louis University Medical Center, department of physiology, and a research fellow and NIH fellow in the department of biochemistry at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Kopp and his wife, Jane, have two grown children. Their son, Adam, lives in Chicago and works in the law office of the Illinois lieutenant governor. Their daughter, Elizabeth, a physical therapist, and her husband, Matthew Bradley, M.D., an orthopedic resident, live in Portland, Ore., and are the proud parents of the Kopps’ grandchildren, Rachel and Ryan.