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 three decades. In 2009, Time magazine named him one of the top 10 university presidents in the United States. In addition to his service at West Virginia University, Gee served as president of The Ohio State University (twice), Vanderbilt University, Brown University, and the University of Colorado.

Born in Vernal, Utah, Gee graduated from 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.

Gee's service to education-governance organizations and commissions is extensive, including the American Association of Universities and the American Council on Education's Commission on Higher Education Attainment. He also has written extensively on law and education, and is the co-author of 11 books, including Law, Policy and Higher Education published in 2012.