Heyman, I. Michael

▪ 1995

      On Sept. 19, 1994, the Smithsonian Institution inducted I. Michael Heyman, law professor and former chancellor of the University of California at Berkeley, as its chief executive officer. As 10th secretary of the cultural and scientific institution, Heyman would oversee the management of its exhibitions and research operations, as well as the maintenance of the vast collections housed in the Smithsonian's many museums. This jovial native New Yorker brought to his new job a long history of administrative and fund-raising expertise as well as experience in dealing with a great variety of scientific and policy issues.

      Ira Michael Heyman was born in New York City on May 30, 1930. Despite an early interest in science—he qualified to enter the prestigious Bronx High School of Science but transferred to a private school so that he could play football and basketball—he studied government at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., receiving a B.A. in 1951. After serving as a U.S. Marine Corps officer during the Korean War, he entered Yale University Law School, where he became editor of the Yale Law Journal. He graduated in 1956, and from 1958 to 1959 he served as chief law clerk for Chief Justice Earl Warren.

      Heyman began his teaching career at the University of California at Berkeley as an acting professor of law in 1959 and became a full professor in 1961 and a professor of law and city and regional planning in 1966. He served as chancellor of the university from 1980 to 1990, during which time he restructured and revitalized the biosciences programs. While at that post, he also became a successful fund-raiser and helped supervise the museums the university maintained.

      Throughout his career Heyman involved himself in a wide range of issues by both serving on and chairing numerous committees dealing with civil rights, land use, and environmental concerns. In the year before his appointment to the Smithsonian, he was deputy assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Department of the Interior, acting as counselor to Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt on such issues as the Endangered Species Act. He also served on the Smithsonian's Board of Regents from 1990 to 1994, an involvement that thoroughly acquainted him with the institution.

      The 148-year-old Smithsonian Institution, considered the "nation's attic" by some, is a complex of 16 museums and galleries and the National Zoological Park, most of which are located in Washington, D.C. Affiliated scientific and cultural research facilities are located in eight states and Panama. Heyman's goals for his tenure as secretary included converting the Smithsonian's rich stores of information to digital form so that electronic access to them could be made available. (MARY JANE FRIEDRICH)

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