Headrick Named Provost of University At Buffalo

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Thomas E. Headrick, Distinguished Service Professor at the University at Buffalo and senior counselor to UB President William R. Greiner, has been named provost of the university.

Headrick will succeed Aaron N. Bloch, who died unexpectedly on April 8.

The appointment, effective May 3, was announced by Greiner.

Headrick will serve as the university's chief academic officer, overseeing academic units, budget issues related to academic affairs and appointments for the university's 15 schools and faculties.

"It is precisely the complexity and difficulty of UB's and SUNY's current situation that forces us -- even as we mourn the loss of a valued and respected leader, colleague and friend -- to move ahead," Greiner said. "We now confront an extraordinary confluence of emergency and opportunity. Our unsettled political and fiscal environments, both in Albany and in Washington, are full of possibilities, as well as perils. SUNY, too, is in the midst of an enormous transition, as a new chancellor works with a new governor and prepares for the appointment of as many as eight new SUNY trustees. In such circumstances, UB's academic leadership can scarcely pause for a moment."

Greiner noted that a nationwide search for a provost could last as long as a year -- "an amount of time which, in my judgment, we simply cannot take, given the immediate demands on UB.

"The appointment of a very experienced UB leader for a substantial term, therefore, seems prudent," he said.

"I and many others are confident that Tom Headrick is a superb choice to undertake UB's difficult provostal responsibilities at this time."

Headrick has held a wide variety of academic and administrative positions in his nearly two decades at UB. He joined the faculty in 1976 as dean of the School of Law, holding that position until 1985, when he returned to the faculty as a full professor. He was co-director of the Canada-U.S. Legal Studies Centre in the law school from 1989-92.

He served as associate dean for academic affairs in the law school from 1992-94, with prime responsibility for the school's recent curriculum revision. He was acting law dean for the Fall 1994 semester while Dean Barry Boyer was on sabbatical.

Outside the law school, Headrick served as interim dean of the Faculty of Arts and Letters in 1990 and chair of the General Assembly of the Undergraduate College from 1987-89. He has been a member of the university's Patent Policy Review Board since 1989. He also holds an appointment as an adjunct professor in the Department of Political Science.

Headrick was named a Distinguished Professor, the highest position in the State University of New York system, by the SUNY Board of Trustees in 1993. The appointment to that rank "is just one index of the enormous respect, admiration and confidence he has inspired in virtually every quarter of our academic community," Greiner said.

In addition to his administrative duties, Headrick has continued to teach law and other graduate and undergraduate courses. He has authored numerous books and journal articles, and delivered papers at professional meetings. His recent publications have dealt with aspects of global capital markets.

Before coming to UB, he served as vice president for academic affairs at Lawrence University and assistant dean at the Stanford Law School.

Headrick received a bachelor's degree, magna cum laude, from Franklin and Marshall College; a bachelor's degree in politics from Oxford University, where he was a Fulbright scholar; a law degree from Yale University, and a doctorate in political science from Stanford.

He resides in Amherst.