Click here to download a high-resolution photo of Randall Thomas.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A new chair at Vanderbilt University Law School
advances the school’s program in law and business and honors one of the
school’s former administrators and long-time supporters. The John S.
Beasley II Chair in Law and Business was awarded to its first
recipient, Professor Randall Thomas, in a ceremony on Feb. 18.
The chair honors Beasley, a 1954 graduate of the Law School and a
former faculty member, associate dean and director of admissions there.
Beasley was associate dean and professor of law from 1962 to 1971. As
director of admissions, he was chief recruiter of students for the Law
School, recruiting from a national base of prospective students.
Beasley later served as Vanderbilt’s vice chancellor for alumni and
development and is now vice chancellor emeritus and counselor to the
chancellor. He is a past recipient of the Law School’s Distinguished
Service Award.
This endowed chair, a gift of an anonymous donor, is a major
addition to the University’s Law and Business Program, an innovative
joint venture of the Vanderbilt Law School and the Owen Graduate School
of Management. This program, established three years ago, offers
courses, conferences, research, the NYSE Directors College and other
programs of benefit to Vanderbilt faculty and students. The program now
boasts 11 classes co-taught at the law and business schools and about
125 students actively enrolled in the curriculum.
"Not only does the John S. Beasley II Chair in Law and
Business permanently endow this program, ensuring its future as part of
the Law and Owen schools, but it affirms the success of the program and
pays tribute to all of us who have worked to make it such a success,"
Thomas said. "As a scholar and a teacher, I am delighted to have
been selected as its first recipient."
Thomas, who directs the Law and Business Program in the Law School,
ranks among the nation’s leading scholars of corporate and securities
law. He joined the Vanderbilt faculty in 2000, and teaches courses in
corporate law, including corporations and business entities, securities
regulations, business acquisitions and mergers and the life cycle of
the corporation. His recent work addresses issues such as executive
compensation, corporate voting, corporate litigation and the structure
of firms.
On having the chair named in his honor, Beasley said, "I am
delighted that such a generous alumnus would be so philanthropic to our
Law School at a moment of its most brilliant promise. This is a
singular investment in the future of a great school and in one of its
most important opportunities."
"This new chair appropriately honors both John Beasley, a hero to
the Vanderbilt Law School, and Randall Thomas, one of our most
distinguished teachers and scholars," said Kent Syverud, dean and
Garner Anthony Professor of Law. "The chair gives a wonderful boost to
our Law and Business Program, ensuring it will continue to offer the
best integration of these two disciplines available at any university
in the country."
For more information about Vanderbilt, visit the News Service homepage at www.vanderbilt.edu/News. More information on the Law School can be found at http://law.vanderbilt.edu/.
Media contact: Susanne Loftis, (615) 322-NEWS
Susanne.loftis@vanderbilt.edu