Hammill named vice provost for graduate education, dean of Graduate School

Graham Hammill, professor and chair of the Department of English, College of Arts and Sciences, has been appointed vice provost for graduate education and dean of the Graduate School.

Hammill’s appointment, effective Aug. 1, was announced today by Charles F. Zukoski, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, and A. Scott Weber, senior vice provost for academic affairs.

Hammill succeeds John Ho, who has served in the position since 2006. Ho will return to his faculty appointment in the Department of Physics.

“As a strong advocate of graduate education and student success with a creative vision for graduate education in the 21st century, Professor Hammill will be an outstanding leader of our graduate and professional educational efforts,” Zukoski said. “I look forward to working with him to enhance our vibrant graduate programs to ensure our students’ continued success in our increasingly complex global and technological society.”

Hammill emerged from a very strong pool of candidates, all of whom articulated an energetic vision for the Graduate School, Weber said. “Graham’s first-rate scholarship and past administrative acumen will further elevate graduate and professional education at UB,” he said.

In his new position, Hammill will provide academic leadership to the Graduate School and a vision for graduate and professional education at UB. He will promote the development of new and innovative graduate and professional programs, be an advocate for the graduate student experience and coordinate the systematic review of existing graduate and professional programs. 

Additionally, he will be responsible for the assessment and continual improvement of central academic support services for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, as well as the coordination of the approval process for new academic degree programs.

CAS Dean Bruce Pitman called Hammill a forward-thinking leader in higher education who will bring an established example of guidance and leadership to the role.

“Graham has been very interested in all changes surrounding higher education in this country, and graduate education in particular,” Pitman said. “As a well-regarded humanities scholar, he has an informed and helpful perspective on the challenges we face in the College Arts and Sciences, and these ideas will carry over to his work as dean of the Graduate School.

“We will miss him and his leadership in the English department, but we look forward to working with him in the Graduate School.”

Hammill said he was “honored and delighted to be given the chance to work with the talented students, faculty and staff who make up graduate education at UB.”

“I look forward to the Graduate School becoming a catalyst for innovative research and teaching, working with faculty to facilitate the highest quality of interdisciplinary research and education across the academic units, and empowering our graduate students to become 21st-century leaders in their chosen academic and professional careers,” he said. “To do so, we need to recruit students of the highest academic quality and provide the resources for their success.”

A UB faculty member since 2008, Hammill is an expert in early modern British literature. He is the author of two books — “Sexuality and Form: Caravaggio, Marlowe and Bacon” (2000) and “The Mosaic Constitution: Political Theology and Imagination from Machiavelli to Milton” (2012) — and editor of “Political Theology and Early Modernity.” He has published numerous scholarly articles and delivered many presentations and lectures on early modern literature, political thought and the history of sexuality. He has held leadership positions in several professional organizations, including currently serving as president of the International Spenser Society.

Hammill is a recipient of many awards and grants throughout his academic career, including being named a UB Humanities Institute Research Fellow (2012-13); an award from the SUNY Conversations in the Discipline (with Carla Mazzio, 2010); and a Kaneb Teaching Award from the University of Notre Dame (2006).

In addition to serving as chair in the Department of English since 2013, Hammill has been a member of the university’s General Education Task Force, the Gender Studies Executive Committee and the College of Arts and Sciences Strategic Planning: Faculty Affairs committee. He was the English department’s director of graduate admission and recruitment from 2009-12 and director of graduate placement from 2010-13.

A graduate of Louisiana State University with a degree in English, Hammill holds a PhD in English from Duke University.

Prior to his arrival at UB, Hammill was a professor in the departments of English at North Carolina State University (1992-95) and the University of Notre Dame (1995-2001).