Constantine Papadakis

Constantine Papadakis, president of Drexel University.

Constantine Papadakis has been the President of Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA since 1995. During his tenure, Papadakis has leveraged the historic strengths of the University (co-operative education, a focus on technology and the rich resources of its Philadelphia location) to...

• double full-time undergraduate enrollment from 4,500 in 1996 to more than 12,000 today;
• triple freshman applications;
• quadruple the endowment from $90 million to more than $500 million; and
• quintuple research funding.

Today, Drexel educates 17,500 students, is the sixth largest private employer in Philadelphia employing more than 5,000 people and has an annual budget of more than $572 million.

Papadakis' salary of $805,000 is currently the sixth highest among university presidents. Source: The Triangle (Drexel University's Student Newspaper)

Today, Drexel educates 17,500 students, is the sixth largest private employer in Philadelphia employing more than 5,000 people and has an annual budget of more than $572 million.

Of the 12,000 students there is a shortage of housing for all student that wants to live in the dorms. Of the endowments most of it goes into his pocket. Papadakis makes more then the president of the University of Pennsylvania, an Ivy League school. His salary is somewhere around $856,000. Recently they came up with the most worthless idea ever which is to put in flat panels around campus that only shows drexel news. The money that were put into those panels could of been better put to use such as an air condition unit in the gymnasium or more money in the forms of scholarships and grants to help the students of Drexel. Drexel is the only school that charges for students to print out from the computer labs. His love for money knows no bounds.

For an university that costs $32000/yr he is trying to make it like a community college all online classes. there is only 75% tenure faculty compred to a similar school carnegie mellon which has 93%.

an excerpt from the wall street journal

Drexel -- You Gotta Love It ... or Hate It

The Wall Street Journal, 703 words

March 8, 2005

As a Drexel undergraduate, I'm all too familiar with the way President Constantine Papadakis runs this institution. The students here lovingly refer to his cost-cutting tactics as "the shaft." This mentality isn't limited to students. Professors joke about Drexel's self-proclaimed title of "No. 1 in technology" when their outdated laptops fail to bring up PowerPoint slides. Only two of the five computers work in the lab where I'm writing this letter. Students recognize that their $26,000 a year, not including living expenses or meals, doesn't get reinvested into them, leading to the low retention rates. At least there's one good thing I can say for Drexel: The business school does provide free copies of this great paper.

External Links

• How Dr. Papadakis Runs a University Like a Company, The Wall Street Journal, February 23, 2005. (Subscription Required)
• Office of the President, Drexel University