IUP to name facility in honor of almuni couple

Indiana University of Pennsylvania will name its College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics — and the $90 million facility it is building to house the college — in honor of alumni John and Char Kopchick, school officials said.

John Kopchick earned a bachelor’s degree in 1972 and a master’s degree in 1975, both in biology. Char Kopchick graduated from IUP with an education degree in 1973. Currently living in Athens, Ohio, John Kopchick is a professor of molecular biology and the Goll-Ohio Eminent Scholar at Ohio University; Char Kopchick is the assistant dean of students there. He is a co-inventor of the drug Somavert, which combats acromegaly, a growth hormone disorder.

The Kopchicks’—he grew up in Indiana, she in nearby Sagamore— $23 million gift to IUP is the largest in the state university’s 143-year history. University officials said the gift will be reserved for science and mathematics initiatives.

Construction on the $90 million College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics building, named the John J. and Char Kopchick Hall, is slated to begin in 2020. The IUP Council of Trustees voted to approve the measure Thursday.

“Being that we are both from the Indiana area with friends and family still here, to have a building named after us is humbling and awesome,” John Kopchick said