William Plater

Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs, Philanthropy, and English; Executive Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculties Emeritus, IUPUI
William M. Plater is Executive Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculties Emeritus at IUPUI and Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus of Public Affairs, Philanthropic Studies, and English. From 2012 through 2014, he was Senior Advisor for International Affairs of the WASC Senior Colleges and Universities Commission, where he served as a Commissioner from 2005 through 2011.

Plater served as the Indiana University Dean of the School of Liberal Arts (1983-87), Executive Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculties (1987-2006), and Director of the Workshop on International Community Development (2006-2012) at IUPUI, sponsored by the Center on Philanthropy and the School of Public and Environmental Affairs, until his retirement in 2010. Before joining IUPUI, Plater was Associate Director of the School of Humanities at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he earned BA, MA and PhD degrees in English.

From 2012 to 2013, Plater served as senior advisor for education strategies at Course Networking, a learning technologies company providing global networking services for academic purposes through social media. He was a director of the management committee of Epsilen, a learning technologies company owned in majority share by the New York Times and senior advisor for education at Epsilen from 2010 to 2011.

Plater currently serves as a member of the advisory boards for the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification, the IU Center on Global Health, and the Greater Indianapolis Red Cross. Past leadership roles have included the Council of Adult and Experiential Learning, The Children’s Museum, WFYI public radio and television stations, the Indiana Humanities Council, and numerous other community boards.

In 2006, American Association of State Colleges and Universities established the William M. Plater Award for Civic Engagement, the first national award of any kind to recognize provosts. Students graduating from IUPUI—from bachelors to PhDs—with outstanding civic engagement records are awarded the Plater Medallion for Civic Engagement. IUPUI also established the Plater International Scholarship Program, providing a cohort of entering undergraduates a four-year tuition scholarship, residency in International House, and a study abroad opportunity; the Scholars have a dedicated advisor and are provided international experiences throughout the year. Plater has been awarded honorary doctorates by Purdue University and the National Institute of Development Administration in Thailand.