Currently serving for a second time as president of West Virginia University, Dr. E. Gordon Gee has been a leader in higher education for more than four decades. In 2009 Time magazine named him one of the top 10 university presidents in the United States. Recently, the website Great Value Colleges named him the nation’s top university president. He also received the Elite Leadership Academy’s 2020 Elite Leadership IMPACT Award. In addition to his service at West Virginia University, Gee led The Ohio State University (twice), Vanderbilt University, Brown University, and the University of Colorado.

Born in Vernal, Utah, 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. Before starting his career in higher education, he clerked under Chief Justice David T. Lewis of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and was a judicial fellow and staff assistant to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he worked for Chief Justice Warren Burger.

He is the co-author of over a dozen books, including three recent ones, What’s Public about Higher Education, Leading Colleges and Universities, and Land-Grant Universities for the Future. He has also authored many papers and articles on law and education. His service on education-governance organizations and commissions is extensive. He currently serves on the executive committee of the National 4-H Council Board of Trustees and the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America He served as chair of the Big 12 Board of Directors Executive Committee for the 2017-18 year and is a Big 12 representative on the College Football Playoff Board of Managers. He is a Member of the Center for Economic Development (CED) Task Force on Building a More Civil and Just Society and was an inaugural member of the Education Advisory Board (EAB) Presidents Advisory Council.