Nicholas S. Zeppos served as the eighth Chancellor of Vanderbilt University from 2008-2019.
Under Zeppos, Vanderbilt achieved its highest academic ranking ever (14 in US News), and dramatically grew biomedical research funding from the National Institutes of Health to ninth in the nation, the highest in university history. Increasing access to a Vanderbilt education and creating a strong engaged community were central to Zeppos’ academic strategic vision. Despite the challenges of the 2008 recession, he instituted and funded a policy eliminating all loans in Vanderbilt financial aid offerings, transforming Vanderbilt’s student body. He also established Vanderbilt’s residential college living learning experience including the Martha Ingram Freshmen Commons, a residential college living learning experience for 1600 freshmen, and four upper-class colleges. Faculty excellence and visibility rapidly advanced under Zeppos’ leadership, with the number of members of the National Academy of Sciences more than doubling during his tenure. Zeppos fashioned a new financial, business, and governance profile for the university. Foreseeing dramatic changes in local and national health care markets he led a major restructuring of the university’s wholly owned health care system, ultimately leading to a spin out of its clinical enterprise.
In 2020 Zeppos returned to full-time teaching and won his eighth teaching award. He currently serves as Chancellor Emeritus and Distinguished Professor of Law and Political Science Emeritus. He serves on the board of trustees of McLean Hospital, the number one ranked psychiatric hospital in the nation and a Harvard-affiliated hospital. Prior to joining Vanderbilt Zeppos practiced law in the United States Department of Justice and Wilmer Hale (then Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering) where he represented the executive branch, Congress, and private entities in a broad range of regulatory, statutory, and constitutional matters. He is a widely recognized scholar and teacher with substantial expertise in regulation and administrative process, legislative process, complex litigation, and constitutional law. He is a 1979 graduate of Wisconsin Law School where he served as Editor in Chief of the law review, was order of the coif, and selected by the faculty as the outstanding graduate of his class. He is a 1976 Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Wisconsin where he majored in history.