President
West Virginia University
By Samantha Cart
“If you don’t like change, you are going to like irrelevance even less.”
This quote by retired U.S. Army General Eric Shinseki is a driving force for Dr. Gordon Gee, president of West Virginia University (WVU). Over the course of his 50-year career, he has experienced countless changes in education, from new technologies and ways of thinking to increased diversity and new dynamics in campus culture. In 1981, he became WVU’s 19th president and one of the youngest people to serve as a university president in the country’s history. In 2014, he was named WVU’s 24th president, and earlier this year, Great Value Colleges named him the number one university president in the nation. Gee considers his commitment to the school and the state not just a job but a calling.
“During my first tenure at WVU, when I was only 36, a couple of old-time professors told me I didn’t look or act like a university president,” he says. “I tried to change and become a little more stoic and standoffish. I discovered that I was not only miserable, but I was also failing. So, I went back to wearing my argyle socks and bow ties, and I have remained a university president for a long time.”
A native of Utah, Gee began his career as an educator at Brigham Young University. Within five years, he had accepted the position of dean at the WVU College of Law, marking the beginning of a lifelong love affair with West Virginia. He went on to lead the University of Colorado, Brown University, Vanderbilt University and The Ohio State University before returning home to the Mountain State. Today, he works tirelessly to advance WVU’s land-grant mission and has forged a special relationship with the student body, which is chronicled by the millions of selfies for which he has posed, his Gee Mail campaign and his constant presence on campus.
“Helping students succeed is at the heart of our mission as a university, and I do not believe I can do that job effectively unless I truly get to know them, their needs and their concerns,” he says. “Serving at West Virginia University is almost a spiritual experience for me. I know when I wake up in the morning that if I do my job well, other people’s lives will be better. Very few people have that kind of opportunity—to make their lives meaningful by making other people’s lives meaningful.”
Gee’s résumé for philanthropy and community service is lengthy and impressive. He not only contributes his expertise to various boards and commissions across the U.S., but he also helps students by quietly donating millions of dollars toward scholarships.
“Fundraising is an important part of my job as a university president, and I
believe someone who is asking others to support a cause should be willing to give as well,” he says. “That is why I have made my largest philanthropic commitments to the universities I have served.”
Gee currently chairs the board of directors for the Big 12 Conference, Royal University for Women, Youth Leadership Association, West Virginia Roundtable, Limited Brands and The Jason Foundation. He is a member of the national executive board for the Boy Scouts of America, board of trustees for the National 4-H Council and the steering committee for the U.S. Manufacturing Competitiveness Initiative’s Council on Competitiveness. He also serves as trustee emeritus of the Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation and a member of the Business-Higher Education Forum. Gee was also instrumental in creating the West Virginia Forward initiative, which is focused on making the Mountain State more competitive.
After 50 years and five universities, Gee is hanging his hat on his accomplishments at WVU and the state he loves.
“My career has come full circle to the place where I first served as president, and my continued focus will be harnessing the university’s power to improve citizens’ lives and overcoming West Virginia’s immense economic challenges,” he says. “Our citizens are both fiercely independent and fiercely loyal. I feel privileged to serve them, and I strive every day to make their lives better.”
1981 Became West Virginia University’s 19th president
1985 Hired as president of the University of Colorado
1990 Named president of The Ohio State University
1990 Received the Boy Scouts of America’s Distinguished Eagle Scout Award
1998 Named president of Brown University
2000 Named chancellor of Vanderbilt University
2008 Began serving on the National 4-H Council board of trustees
2009 Named one of the top 10 university presidents in the U.S. by Time magazine
2014 Named West Virginia University’s 24th president
2016 Joined the board of trustees at the Royal University for Women in Bahrain
2017 Collaborated with state leaders to launch WV Forward
