E. Gordon Gee on Public Education: A Moral Imperative

E. Gordon Gee

E. Gordon Gee is president of The Ohio State University. Among the most highly experienced and respected university presidents in the nation, he returned to The Ohio State University after having served as Chancellor of Vanderbilt University for seven years. Prior to his tenure at Vanderbilt, he was president of Brown University (1998-2000), The Ohio State University (1990-97), the University of Colorado (1985-90), and West Virginia University (1981-85).

Born in Vernal, Utah, Gordon Gee graduated from the University of Utah with an honors degree in history and earned his J.D. and Ed.D degrees from Columbia University. He clerked under Chief Justice David T. Lewis of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals before being named a judicial fellow and staff assistant to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he worked for Chief Justice Warren Burger on administrative and legal problems of the Court and federal judiciary. Gee returned to Utah as an associate professor and associate dean in the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University, eventually achieving the rank of full professor. In 1979 he was named dean of the West Virginia University Law School, and in 1981 was appointed to that university's presidency.

Active in many national professional and service organizations, President Gee has served as chairman of the Kellogg Commission on the Future of State and Land Grant Universities, and he is a member of the National Commission on Writing for America's Families, Schools, and Colleges, founded by the College Board to improve the teaching and learning of writing. President Gee has received many honorary degrees, awards, and recognitions. He is the co-author of eight books and the author of numerous papers and articles on law and education.