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University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Office of the Chancellor

The Power of Red

Harvey Perlman

Chancellor › University of Nebraska-Lincoln


University of Nebraska-Lincoln • 201 ADMS • Lincoln NE, 68588-0419 • 402.472.2116 • hperlman1@unl.edu



Harvey Perlman

Harvey Perlman was named the 19th Chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on April 1, 2001. He had served as Interim Chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since July 16, 2000.

A former dean of the University of Nebraska College of Law (1983-98), Perlman has also served as interim senior vice chancellor for academic affairs at UNL (1995-96).

A Nebraska native, Perlman was raised in York, and earned a bachelor of arts in history and a juris doctorate from the University of Nebraska. During his law school years, he was editor in chief of the Nebraska Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif, a law honors society.

He joined the NU law faculty in 1967 after spending a year as a Bigelow Teaching Fellow at the University of Chicago Law School. He served on the Nebraska law faculty until 1974 when he joined the faculty at the University of Virginia Law School. He returned to Nebraska in 1983 when he accepted the deanship of the Nebraska Law College, a post he held until 1998 when he returned to the professoriate. He has also served as a visiting professor at Florida State University College of Law, the University of Puget Sound School of Law and the University of Iowa College of Law.

His area of legal expertise lies in torts and intellectual property. He is a member of the Nebraska State and American Bar Associations and is a commissioner of the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws. He is co-author of "Intellectual Property and Unfair Competition" (5th edition, 1998) and co-reporter for the "Restatement of Unfair Competition" (1994). In February 2002, Perlman was named a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation. Fellow status denotes an individual who has demonstrated outstanding dedication to the welfare of his or her community and is committed to the highest principles of the legal profession. Only the top one-third of one percent of the legal profession is eligible for nomination as a Fellow.

He serves on the Council of the American Law Institute, a leading national law reform organization, as one of Nebraska's Commissioners of Uniform State Laws, as a member of the Board of Directors of the Big 12 Athletic Conference, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the NCAA. He is Chair of the Bowl Championship Series Presidential Oversight Committee.

Perlman and his wife, Susan, an NU alumna, are the parents of two daughters. Anne, who earned degrees from UNL and the University of Nebraska Medical Center, practices medicine in Lincoln and is married to UNL alumnus David Spinar; they are the parents of the Perlmans' three grandchildren, Will, Ava, and Marco, Husker fans all. Daughter Amie, who received bachelors and juris doctorate degrees from UNL, is a Nebraska assistant attorney general and is married to UNL alumnus Ron Larson, and they are the parents of Caleb Quinn.

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