Agricultural Research Service
50th Anniversary

J. Charles Lee

• J. Charles Lee
  President
  Mississippi State University

Dr. J. Charles Lee became the 17th president of Mississippi State University on January 17, 2003.

Dr. Lee had previously served for just over a year as interim president. He had been Mississippi State's vice president for agriculture, forestry, and veterinary medicine since September 1999 and also had been dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences since July 2000. He previously had served at Mississippi State from 1978 to 1983 as dean of the School of Forest Resources and associate director of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station.

Before returning to Mississippi State as vice president in 1999, Lee had held administrative positions in the Texas A&M University System, including four years as vice chancellor for research, planning, and continuing education. In that role he was responsible for academic, research, and continuing education issues for all of the system's member institutions.

Dr. Lee also served for 18 months in 1994-95 as interim executive vice president and provost for Texas A&M University, providing leadership for all academic programs and related activities throughout the 42,000-student university.

He joined Texas A&M in 1983 as head of the forest science department, later holding high-level administrative positions in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station and as deputy vice chancellor of the Texas A&M University System.

Dr. Lee earned a bachelor's degree in forest management and a Ph.D. in forestry/genetics at North Carolina State University. He also has done graduate work at Duke University.

He spent the early years of his career as a research forester for the Westvaco Corporation in North Carolina and West Virginia and headed the forestry department at the University of Arkansas at Monticello from 1972 to 1978.

Dr. Lee has been honored for outstanding service by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Joint Council on Food and Agricultural Sciences, the Texas A&M University Board of Regents, the Texas A&M College of Medicine, and the Mississippi Forestry Commission.

He and his wife, Pat, have three children and three grandchildren.