John B. Simpson

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John B. Simpson bigraphy, stories - American academic

John B. Simpson : biography

June 8, 1947 –

John Barclay Simpson (born June 8, 1947) is a former president of the University at Buffalo, part of the State University of New York system. He assumed this position on January 1, 2004, after leaving his position as executive vice chancellor and provost of the University of California, Santa Cruz. On August 30, 2010, Dr. Simpson announced his retirement from the post of UB President effective January 15, 2011.

A research scientist specializing in neuroendocrinology, physiology, and behavior, he was appointed to the faculty of UB’s Department of Physiology and Biophysics. He has guided the campus through significant curricular developments, overseeing the creation of new graduate programs in digital arts and new media, bioinformatics, electrical engineering, and politics.

A native of California, Dr. Simpson is the father of two children, and also has two grandchildren.

Former memberships

  • Board member of Seattle’s Intiman Theater Company and the Henry Art Gallery

Current memberships

  • Board of Directors of the SUNY Research Foundation
  • Buffalo Niagara Partnership Board of Directors
  • Buffalo Niagara Enterprise
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science,
  • Society for Neuroscience
  • Society for the Study of Ingestive Behavior
  • Board of directors of the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, the governing body of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery
  • Pilchuck Glass School, trustee
  • Council on Competitiveness

Background

He received his master’s and doctoral degrees in neurobiology and behavior from Northwestern University in 1972 and 1973, respectively. He received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

He spent two years at the University of Pennsylvania as a research associate of the Institute of Neurological Sciences in the Department of Biology. He has been a visiting professor of physiology at the UC San Francisco School of Medicine, and at the Howard Florey Institute of Experimental Physiology and Medicine at the University of Melbourne in Australia where he raised and bred kangaroos.

Dr. Simpson’s research is in neuroendocrinology, the study of brain and hormone interaction. He received research support for his laboratory from the National Institutes of Health, and has published widely on the subjects of brain controls of body fluid and cardiovascular regulation, the renin-angiotensin system, and the brain’s circumventricular organs.

For 23 years, he was on the faculty of psychology at the University of Washington in Seattle, serving as director of the university’s joint physiology-psychology program for 4 years (1984–1988) and as head of the physiological psychology area (1986–1990) before his appointment as associate dean for computing, facilities and research in the UW College of Arts and Sciences (1991), and he subsequently was appointed dean (1994) of the College of Arts and Sciences. In 1998, he assumed the post of executive vice chancellor at UC Santa Cruz, and served for 5 years.

On August 30, 2010, he notified the University at Buffalo Council that he would retire effective on January 15, 2011. He stated that he was going to return to his "West Coast home". On January 5, 2011 Simpson that he would remain on as President until a successor was announced. John B. Simpson is succeeded by Satish K Tripathi