In the fall of 1964, Casper emigrated to the United States and spent two years as an assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Berkeley.

His concerns as president ranged from resolution of the indirect cost dispute with the federal government to restoration of the campus after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake to innovation in curriculum, programs, and physical plant.

The commission and other faculty initiatives led to a new approach to the first two years of college, Stanford Introductory Studies (SIS),[9] which provides small-group learning and research experiences.

Casper also initiated the Stanford Graduate Fellowships and helped raise a substantial endowment for their support.

Recruitment and retention of exceptional faculty members who excel in both research and teaching was emphasized during Casper's presidency through Research Grants for Junior Faculty in the three schools that offer undergraduate degrees: Earth Sciences, Engineering, and Humanities and Sciences.

The university's bureaucracy was also streamlined through internal reorganizations and a reduction in the number of vice presidential positions.

The 1893 Leland Stanford Junior Museum became part of an expanded complex, the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Center for Visual Arts.

The reconstructed Bing Wing of Cecil H. Green Library opened in 1999, a decade after the severe damage inflicted by the Loma Prieta earthquake closed its doors.

[11] In July 2015, Casper was appointed one-year interim president of the American Academy in Berlin, an institute for culture and research founded in 1994 by Ambassador Richard Holbrooke.

The independent, privately funded, nonpartisan American Academy in Berlin seeks to improve cultural and academic ties between Germany and the USA.

[12] While acting as president, Casper arranged a visit by Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel, in September 2015, who discussed "The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain.

[14] The intercultural and interdisciplinary setting and the creative program made the Academy a prestigious center according to the German magazine Der Spiegel.