Dr. Luke Ebersole joined the faculty of the Sociology Department of the university in 1952. He served as director of graduate studies in the department (1960–66); assistant dean of the College of Liberal Arts (1966–68); associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts (1968–70); associate vice chancellor for academic affairs (1970–72); and vice chancellor for planning and administration from 1972 until his retirement in 1984. He was a specialist in sociology and religion. Prior to his administrative appointment, he was prominently involved in a wide variety of university programs and activities, including the defining of the bachelor of science curriculum requirements in the College of Liberal Arts, the establishment of the Department of Religious Studies, and the UT chapter of the American Association of University Professors, of which he served as president.
He earned the AB degree from Elizabethtown College (Pennsylvania) and the MA and PhD degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. He authored Church Lobbying in the Nation’s Capital (1951), American Society (1955), and numerous scholarly articles. He was the first faculty member whose contributions to the intellectual life of the institution were commemorated by the placement of a plaque on a faculty study.