On November 13, 1990 Ivan Vakarchuk was elected the rector of Lviv State University named after Ivan Franko (current name - Lviv National University named after Ivan Franko) and worked till November 2007. Later he held this office again between 2010 and 2013. During the 2004' presidential elections, Vakarchuk openly called students to vote for Viktor Yushchenko. In 2008 he took the 50th place in the Top 100 of the most influential Ukrainians, according to Reporter magazine.