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 also has 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.
In 2011, Perlman was named an Honorary University Professor of Xi’an Jiaotong University,
in Xi’an, China. This rare lifetime appointment entitles Perlman to privileges at the university,
with which UNL has many institutional ties. Perlman also will occasionally lecture and teach at
Xi’an Jiaotong University. The title is the highest honor the university awards to a foreign scholar,
and recognizes Perlman as an accomplished scholar or professional of important international
reputation. The award also recognizes Perlman for his significant efforts in globalizing UNL and
Xi’an Jiaotong University through joint research and partnership degree programs.
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 Life Fellow of the American Bar Association. Perlman
is co-author of “Intellectual Property and Unfair Nebraska's Chancellors
Competition” (5th edition, 1998) and co-reporter 1871-1876 — Allen R. Benton
for the American Law Institute’s “Restatement 1876-1882 — Edmund B. Farfield
of Unfair Competition” (1994). He serves on the 1884-1889 — Irvin J. Manatt
Council of the American Law Institute, a leading 1891-1895 — James H. Canfield
1895-1899 — George E. MacLean
national law reform organization and as one 1900-1908 — E. Benjamin Andrews
of Nebraska’s Commissioners of Uniform State 1908-1927 — Samuel Avery
Laws. He previously served as a member of the 1927-1938 — E.A. Burnett
NCAA Board of Directors and is past chair of the 1938-1946 — Chauncey S. Boucher
Bowl Championship Series Presidential Oversight 1947-1953 — R.G. Gustavson
1953-1954 — John K. Se X