John W. Ryan

He remained an active figure within the university, both as a professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs and as a member of several boards and committees.

[7] In one of his first official acts, Ryan hired legendary men's basketball coach Bob Knight on behalf of the IU Board of Trustees in 1971.

In the 1979 film Breaking Away, he played himself as president of the university, lecturing students on their behavior at the dining hall where they fought the Cutters (a reference to stonecutters who worked in the limestone quarries in southern Indiana).

The presentation was a particularly special occasion, because it was Ryan who, as president, created the University Medal in 1982, bestowing it first on Thomas T. Solley, director of the IU Art Museum.

In 1996, Ryan stepped in to fill the Chancellorship of the State University of New York after his predecessor abruptly resigned.