Spring Break
President Papadakis' life, legacy remembered
Stephanie Takach
Issue date: 4/10/09 Section: News
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From the beginning, Papadakis took charge
Drexel Board of Trustees Chairman Richard Greenawalt said Papadakis told him the academics of Drexel were solid when he came to Drexel in 1995, but the administration had some problems.
"He came here in the first week, during the warm weather, but the staff took off on a Friday and they said [to Papadakis that] this time of the year we don't work Fridays," Greenawalt said. "[Papadakis] said, well if you don't work Friday, then you wouldn't mind taking a 20 percent pay cut."
After that, all employees began to show up for work on Fridays.
Once a visionary, always a visionary
Carl "Tobey" Oxholm, dean and chief executive officer of Drexel's Center for Graduate Studies in Sacramento, said he will never forget his first meeting with Papadakis- his job interview. During the 40-minute interview, 35 minutes were spent listening to a summary of the University's achievements and a vision of where Papadakis intended to take Drexel in the years to come.
"It was mesmerizing and a bit overwhelming," Oxholm wrote in an e-mail. "I came later to understand that he was not trying to impress me; it was just who he was: a visionary who barely needed to pause for breath, a man who thoroughly loved this place, the embodiment of a university on a path to greatness."
Oxholm said when he accepted the position, Papadakis gave him his "great twinkling-eyed smile," slapped Oxholm on his back and said, "You have no idea what you are in for. I promise you, it will be the time of your life!"
"Seven years, 10 months and three days later, the whirlwind that was Taki Papadakis has been stilled," Oxholm wrote. "But his gifts to us remain - his clear-eyed vision, his irrepressible enthusiasm, and the bright blue sky to which he so passionately and effectively charted Drexel's course."
Expanding the business and engineering reputation
Papadakis recognized that Drexel could expand its borders to include both a medical and law school, according to Greenawalt. In 1998, the University trustees signed a landmark agreement to manage the bankrupt Allegheny University of the Health Sciences, followed by a 2002 merger creating the Drexel University College of Medicine.
"The thing that I would say tells the story of Taki, and he always was Taki to me, is his tremendous insight right after he got here when the Allegany health system collapsed and went bankrupt," Greenawalt said.
He said it was Papadakis that had the vision for the medical school to fit in with Drexel. However, Papadakis had a challenging job convincing the Board of Trustees that this was the right move.
"I think now in 2009, it was one of most remarkable things here at Drexel. It was totally Taki Papadakis to tell this story to trustees and it saved 13,000 to 15,000 jobs in the City," Greenawalt said. "Very few people would have taken that risk."
In a statement from Michael Kennedy, chair of the Drexel University Faculty Senate, Kennedy recognized that Papadakis also helped create the Earle Mack School of Law, which will hold its first commencement ceremony May 27.
"While we are all deeply saddened by Dr. Papadakis' passing, we will strive to continue the efforts that he devoted so much energy to, in helping Drexel University become a premier private university," Kennedy said in the statement.
Papadakis' energy reflected in the student body
Mark Greenberg, interim provost, was invited to become the director of the honors program in the summer of 1995, the summer that Papadakis first came to Drexel.
In the mid-1990s, the honors program was small, about 120 students, and Greenberg held a dinner for the term in which 35 to 40 students attended.
"At about 6:30 p.m., the elevator door opens and the new president comes bounding out of the elevator, shakes my hand and put his arm around me and said he's so happy to meet me and excited about the honors program," Greenberg said.
Then, rather than standing there and talking to Greenberg about the honors program, Papadakis went from one table to another talking to the students and asking them if they liked the honors program and why it was important to them.
"I get a phone call a day or two later from president and he said, 'Mark, I understand the program is working well, and we want to keep [the students], what can I do to help?'" Greenberg said.
Greenberg asked Papadakis for a second computer (about $3,500 at that time) and a printer because the students loved the one that the honors program had. Although Papdakis didn't have "two nickels to rub together," the honors program received the equipment.
"[It was] all based on working those tables … somebody had to ask the students," Greenberg said.
Never a battle of 33rd Street
University of Pennsylvania President Amy Gutmann reflected on Papadakis' role as a "commanding visionary" in a statement released April 6.
"He brilliantly mapped the intersection of innovation, research and excellence in all of the creatively and professionally focused educational opportunities that Drexel affords its students and faculty," Gutmann said in the statement.
She also said that under his leadership, Drexel has become a technological powerhouse with whom Penn proudly partners in such areas as nanoscale research.
A celebration and continuation
James Tucker, senior vice president for Student Life and Administrative Services, said Papadakis' achievements at Drexel are numerous, and probably more so than any single university president has ever been able to accomplish in the same amount of time.
"As we all feel the sorrow of losing such a wonderful man, I have no doubt Taki would want us to be celebrating the strength of Drexel," Tucker wrote in an e-mail. "By celebrating the strengths and achievements of this University, we are also honoring and celebrating the man who gave us 13 tireless years of his life."
He said Drexel University will continue to forge ahead onto newer and greater things, because Taki would have had it no other way.
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