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Charlie Bicak most recently served as senior vice chancellor for academic and student affairs from 2009 to 2022, and became UNK interim chancellor on June 1, 2024. A Kearney Catholic High School graduate, Bicak has deep ties to Kearney and UNK. His late father, Laddie, was a longtime faculty member at UNK. After working summers on the campus grounds crew, Bicak enrolled at Kearney State College in 1970, and played football for the Lopers for two years before earning his bachelor’s degree in biology education in 1974.

He taught at Westside Community Schools in Omaha, earned master’s and doctorate degrees and began his career in academia at California State University. He returned to UNK in 1992, teaching in the Department of Biology for the next 13 years, including service as department chair and assistant to the dean. He received the Teaching Excellence Award from the Kearney Area Chamber of Commerce and the Leland Holdt/Security Mutual Life Distinguished Faculty Award, presented annually to a UNK teacher-scholar for outstanding achievements in education, research and service.

After serving as dean of the School of Natural Sciences at St. Edward’s University in Texas for four years, Bicak returned to UNK for good in 2009.

As senior vice chancellor, Bicak oversaw numerous initiatives at UNK, notably playing a key role in the successful partnership with the University of Nebraska Medical Center to expand health care education in rural Nebraska. UNK and UNMC opened the Health Science Education Complex in Kearney in 2015, and construction is underway on the Douglas A. Kristensen Rural Health Education Complex, which will further expand UNMC programs on the UNK campus.

Bicak also developed a new general studies curriculum that has given students greater flexibility in earning their degree, expanded the Kearney Health Opportunities Program with UNMC, and launched the Kearney Law Opportunities Program, a partnership with the Nebraska College of Law that trains students for legal careers in rural communities. He also collaborated with the University of Nebraska at Omaha to bring a master’s program in social work to UNK. Bicak retired from the senior vice chancellor’s role in 2022, but remained engaged in bringing the rural health partnerships to fruition.