Robert L. Ketter evaluation records

Collection — Envelope: 1

Identifier: 4-11-324

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

In 1973, the SUNY Board of Trustees established a five year term appointment for Presidents, with reappointment contingent upon an evaluation and review according to procedures spelled out in documents in this collection. Ketter was the first of the Presidents to be evaluated and seems to have been the first to undergo such an evaluation in the country.

The collection contains "Guidelines for the Review Process for the Chancellor and Presidents," Ketter's appraisal, and the "Final Report of the Ad Hoc Committee for Presidential Performance Review at SUNY/AB."

Ketter's appraisal is notable for his contextual narrative of the University at Buffalo in the years immediately prior to his term, through 1974. Included are his assessment of the University's relationship with the greater Western New York community; university administrative and governance structures; enrollment; campus and academic planning; and funding.

Dates

1974

Creator

Ketter, Robert L., 1928-1989 (Person)

Terms of Access and Use

Robert L. Ketter evaluation records are open to researchers.

Copyright

Copyright is held by The State University of New York at Buffalo. Copyright in other papers in the collection may be held by their authors, or the authors' heirs or assigns. Researchers must obtain the written permission of the holder(s) of copyright and the University Archives before publishing quotations from materials in the collection. Most papers may be copied in accordance with the library's usual procedures unless otherwise specified.

Biographical Note

Robert Lewis Ketter was born in 1929 in Welch, West Virginia; earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering from University of Missouri, Columbia in 1950; earned an M.S. in Civil Engineering from Lehigh University in 1952 and a Ph.D., also in civil engineering, at Lehigh in 1956, where he taught as associate professor.

In 1958 he came to the University of Buffalo to act as chair of the Civil Engineering Department, and in 1965 was named Dean of the graduate School. In 1967, Ketter became Vice President of Facilities Planning, where he would be responsible for much of the planning, design and construction of UB's new Amherst Campus.

In 1971 Ketter was inaugurated as President of the University, a post he held until 1982 in addition to teaching civil engineering. In 1985 he was named Director of UB's Earthquake Engineering and Systems Dynamics Laboratories, and in 1986 Ketter was instrumental in obtaining a grant from the National Science Foundation to found the National Center for Earthquake Engineering Research, of which he was also Director. In 1986 the University named a building after Ketter (home to the Department of Civil, Structural and Environmental Engineering). He was recipient of several honorary degrees, including a Doctor of Engineering form Lehigh University, 1986, and a Doctor of Science from Kyoungpook University, S. Korea, 1973. Ketter died in 1989.