Henry H. Tschappat was an American educator best known for being the Professor and Program Director of the Plastics Program at Ferris State University, Big Rapids, Michigan.

Tschappat attended Central Michigan University, earned a B.S. in business administration at Washington University, St. Louis, and did graduate work at the University of Illinois-Urbana and at UCLA. He was instructor of plastics technology from 1970-1982 at Elgin Community College, Elgin, IL and Vice President and General Manager of Elgin Molded Plastics Co., a custom molder from 1959-1970.

Tchappat's career spanned the years from 1959 to his retirement in 1993. He joined Ferris in 1982, where he was charged with designing a polymer program that has now developed into one of the University’s premier offerings. During his 11-year tenure, the Plastics Engineering Technology Program grew five-fold and gained national and international recognition.

During this period, the scope of the Plastics Program likewise expanded from primarily serving the employment needs of local industry to serving those of regional and national companies. Professor Tschappat viewed working with students and inspiring them to make significant contributions to the plastics industry as his most important accomplishment.

For his efforts in leading and promoting the Ferris Program, Tschappat was named SPE International Educator of the Year in 1992.

As program director and professor he was committed to providing Plastics Engineering Technology students with opportunities to develop the skills and abilities of a polymer professional as they mastered the academic content of their program.

Tschappat had a profound effect on the students he taught, both as their teacher and as a mentor. Over two decades later, Ferris has Michigan’s only baccalaureate plastics engineering program and the largest and most respected undergraduate program in the nation.

His vision was to expand the Plastics Department and the National Elastomer Center was completed in 1998. This is currently a 28000 sq. ft. building that contains state-of-the-art labs, classrooms, and faculty offices. By expanding the existing Plastics Building, additional lab and classroom facilities were added to accommodate the new Rubber Engineering Technology Program.

A senior member of SPE, Tschappat served on the Boards of Directors of the Chicago Section, the Mid-Michigan Section, and the Plastics Education Foundation, and he was elected to the Board of Directors of the Detroit section in 1991. Professor Tschappat also holds long-term memberships in the Industrial Relations Research Association and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.