New Releases Wednesday: Cornelius L. Hopper: A Career in Medicine and Higher Education Administration

Photo of Dr. Cornelius Hopper, 1978 by Kirwan Berkeley

Cornelius L. Hopper: A Career in Medicine and Higher Education Administration: University of Wisconsin, 1967-1971, Tuskegee Institute, 1971-1979; University of California, 1979-1999

Cornelius L. Hopper. M.D. is the Emeritus Vice President for Health Affairs for the University of California System. Born in Oklahoma, Dr. Hopper received his AB and MD degrees, respectively, from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. He served as a Battalion Surgeon in the Marines from 1961 to 1963. Later, Dr. Hopper trained in Internal Medicine at Marquette University and subsequently Neurology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he remained on the Neurology faculty until 1971. In 1971 Dr. Hopper accepted the directorship of the John A. Andrew Memorial Hospital at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and an appointment as the Institute’s Vice President for Health Affairs. In 1979 Dr. Hopper was recruited to the University of California System as Special Assistant for Health Affairs to the University’s President and in 1983 was promoted to Vice President. For twenty years, until his retirement in 2000, he served as the senior administrative officer for the nation’s largest university health sciences system, encompassing fourteen health professions schools on six campuses, an enrollment of thirteen thousand students, and a budget of over $3 billion. Dr. Hopper and his wife Barbara have been married for over 50 years, and have three children. His oral history transcript is now available online.