Richard Herman

Who is Richard Herman?

Richard H. Herman served as the Chancellor of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2005-2009. He previously served there as Provost and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs since 1998. As provost he garnered support for, and administered, a “faculty excellence” program designed to bring established faculty to the institution. Over the course of his administrative tenure, sponsored research at the university increased by more than 50%.

Herman promoted private sector partnerships by supporting the creation of a Research Park and, in particular, by helping to secure a $500 million grant from BP in partnership with Berkeley. Commitments to the creation of the Institute for Genomic Biology and the garnering of the Petascale Award with IBM from the National Science Foundation ensured continued scientific and technological leadership for the university

Herman helped to secure a number of gifts including $100 million from alumnus Tom Siebel for support of research in science and technology, $14 million for a Center for Brazilian Studies from the Lemann Family and an anonymous gift of $40 million for undergraduate student support.