Harvey Perlman

Chancellor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Harvey Perlman was named the 19th chancellor of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2001. He was a member of the NU law faculty from 1967 to 1974, when he joined the faculty at the University of Virginia Law School. He returned to Nebraska in 1983 to become the dean of the Nebraska Law College, a post he held until 1998 when he returned to the professoriate. He served as interim vice chancellor for academic affairs and interim chancellor before becoming chancellor.

A Nebraska native, Perlman earned a bachelor of arts degree 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.

In 2011, Perlman was named an honorary university professor of Xi’an Jiaotong University in Xi’an, China.

He is a member of the Nebraska State and American Bar Associations and is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Association.

During his tenure as chancellor, Perlman has been instrumental in securing several generous gifts from the Johnny Carson estate and the John W. Carson Foundation to support theatre and film programs in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film in the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts and the broadcasting program in the College of Journalism and Mass Communication, as well as the Johnny Carson Opportunity Scholarship Fund and the lobby renovation of the Johnny Carson Theater at the Lied Center for Performing Arts.

Perlman has enjoyed a brief film career in the You-Tube video series, “Harvey’s Perls of Knowledge.”