[3] He guided the campus through significant curricular developments, overseeing the creation of new graduate programs in digital arts and new media, bioinformatics, electrical engineering, and politics.

[3] In 2007, Simpson also received an honorary doctorate degree from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology,[3] in recognition of his commitment to leadership regarding international education partnerships through UB.

[3][7] Simpson spent two years at the University of Pennsylvania as a research associate of the Institute of Neurological Sciences in the Department of Biology.

For 23 years, Simpson was a member of the faculty of psychology at the University of Washington (UW) in Seattle,[3] serving as director of the university's joint physiology-psychology program for four years from 1984 to 1988,[3] and as head of the physiological psychology area from 1986 to 1990 before his appointment as associate dean for computing, facilities and research in the UW College of Arts and Sciences in 1991.

[8] Simpson lobbied lawmakers with his plans, but ultimately needed additional monies for the expansion from government leaders in Albany that did not come through.

Of his decision to retire as UB President, Washington, DC's Targeted News Service quoted Simpson stating, in part, on August 30, 2010:It is one I have made with great satisfaction in all that this university community has achieved together over the past several years, in those areas we control.