By Ralph Derickson

Allan Walker Vestal, whose appointment is effective July 1, currently is associate dean and professor at the Washington and Lee University School of Law.

The Board of Trustees appointed two new endowed chairs at Tuesday's meeting. For the story on the new James F. Hardymon Endowed Chair in Networking, click here.

For the story on the new College of Education endowed chair, click here.

Vestal's appointment is effective July 1.  He replaces David Shipley who resigned in June 1998.  UK law professors Robert Schwemm and Eugene Gaetke served as interim deans during the national search for the new law dean of the college that has 388 current students and 5,549 living alumni.

Dean Vestal received a bachelor of arts and a doctorate of jurisprudence from Yale University.  He worked as an associate for Foley & Lardner in Milwaukee, Wis., and as an associate and partner with Shuttleworth & Ingersoll in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, before joining the faculty at Washington and Lee in 1989.  Vestal's expertise is in partnership law and he has co-authored two books on the subject.

The board approved the appointment of new faculty members filling two new UK endowed chairs that were established with matching funds from the Research Challenge Trust Fund.  Henry G. Dietz, a former Purdue University professor, was appointed to the James F. Hardymon Chair in Networking in the College of Engineering, electrical engineering department.

Ted Stephen Hasselbring was recruited from the faculty of Peabody College of Vanderbilt University to fill an endowed chair in the College of Education.  His expertise is in special education.

In other action, the UK board:

n               Renamed the Margaret I. King North library building the Lucille Caudill Little Fine Arts Library and Learning Center to honor the UK arts patron and well-known Lexington philanthropist who donated $1 million to UK in 1994 to renovate the building for use by the College of Fine Arts.

n               Accepted gifts and pledges totaling $1,915,000, including $300,000 to be applied to a previously established professorship in the James W. Martin School of Public Policy and Administration honoring former Kentucky U.S. Sen. Wendell H. Ford.

n              Accepted a gift of $104,105 from George and Betty Blanda of La Grange Park, Ill., to create and endow the George and Betty Blanda Professorship in Education in the College of Education and provide a $4,105 to the UK Dance Ensemble.  George Blanda was a star football player for UK from 1945 to 1948 who played a record-setting 26 seasons in the National Football League.  Mrs. Blanda was a member of a modern dance group at UK that preceded the Dance Ensemble;

n              Accepted a $1 million pledge from Chris T. Sullivan of Tampa, Fla., for the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house construction fund.  Sullivan, a 1972 UK graduate, is a member of SAE and is the founder of the Outback Steak House restaurant chain, and

n              Accepted a pledge of $250,000 in equipment from Lexmark, the Lexington-based computer printer manufacturing company.  The Lexmark equipment is designated for the College of Engineering's new mechanical engineering/student commons building.