David Triggle Named Dean of UB Graduate School

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- David J. Triggle, Ph.D., dean of the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and SUNY Distinguished Professor, has been named dean of the Graduate School and vice provost for Graduate Education at UB.

He will phase out of his duties in the School of Pharmacy, where he has been dean since 1985, and into his new responsibilities over the course of the Fall 1995 semester.

"In these difficult times, David brings a wealth of experience and far-sighted vision to our Graduate School and to graduate education and research generally," said UB Provost Thomas E. Headrick, in announcing Triggle's appointment. "The university is most fortunate to have a scholar and leader of his talent and imagination to serve in this absolutely crucial area of academic administration."

Triggle noted that "to become vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate School at this time is a particularly challenging opportunity. Nationwide there are sharply divided and contrasting views on graduate education and where it is going.

"Here at UB," he added, "we have, over the years, seen the Graduate School decentralized and devolved to the point where decisions have to be made. The recent report on the Graduate School is a critical step in strengthening graduate education here. We are going to need quantitative and qualitative changes in graduate education in the decade ahead in light of the declining resources from state, federal and private sources."

A member of the faculty in the UB Department of Biochemical Pharmacology since 1962, Triggle was chair of the department from 1971 to 1985, when he was named dean.

In 1994, he completed a report on behalf of the Provost's Advisory Committee on the Structure of the Arts and Sciences.

Triggle's internationally recognized research focuses on how drugs interact with calcium channels, cellular mechanisms that regulate the entry of calcium when stimulated. He has conducted pioneering research into the action of calcium-channel antagonists in the cardiovascular system and studies calcium channels and aging.

A fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and chair of its Pharmaceutical Sciences Section, Triggle is a member of numerous professional societies. He serves on many editorial boards and recently started his own trade magazine, Pharmaceutical News, of which he is editor.

Among his numerous honors, he has received the Otto Krayer Award in Pharmacology from the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, the Volwiler Research Achievement Award of the American Association of the College of Pharmacy, the Educational Citation of Honor Award from the National Columbus Day Committee and the George F. Koepf Award for Advancement of Biomedical Research from the Hauptman-Woodward Medical Research Institute Inc.

In addition, he has been cited by the Joseph P. Kennedy Foundation for his extensive work on behalf of the Special Olympics.

A native of London, England, Triggle received a doctorate in chemistry at the University of Hull and a bachelor's degree from the University of Southampton. He has held post-doctoral fellowships at the universities of London and Ottawa, and was a visiting professor at the University of Leeds.

He lives in Clarence.