Contact: Joe Farris
J. Charles Lee
J. Charles Lee, a senior administrator in the Texas A&M University System, is being named vice president for agriculture, forestry and veterinary medicine at Mississippi State.
Currently vice chancellor for research, planning and continuing education at Texas A&M, he assumes his new duties Sept. 1. Formal approval of the appointment is pending by the Board of Trustees, Institutions of Higher Learning.
No stranger to the state, Lee was MSU dean of forest resources and associate director of the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station 1978-83. He has held senior administrative positions at Texas A&M since then.
He succeeds R. Rodney Foil, who retired in June after 30 years as an MSU administrator and 13 years as vice president.
"Charles Lee has a sterling record of achievement in one of the premier land-grant universities in the nation and a proven track record as a leader in scientific agriculture," said MSU President Malcolm Portera.
"He understands both the needs of our state and the potential of our university to help address those needs in areas such as biotechnology and other agriculture, natural resource and animal health disciplines," Portera added.
The vice president for agriculture, forestry and veterinary medicine oversees the MSU Extension Service, MAFES and the Forest and Wildlife Research Center.
The office also shares administrative responsibility with the vice president for academic affairs for the colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Forest Resources and Veterinary Medicine.
"Mississippi State has a critical role in preparing the professional, industrial and scientific leaders of tomorrow's food and fiber industry," Lee said. "Its agricultural and natural resource agencies will need to develop and disseminate new technologies and information to assist this important segment of the Mississippi economy in maintaining its competitiveness while being responsive to environmental and consumer concerns.
"I am honored by the confidence conveyed in this appointment and very impressed by the current momentum of the university," Lee said.
In his current position since 1995, Lee has been responsible for academic program development for all institutions in the A&M system, as well as for strategic analysis of policy issues facing the system.
In 1994 and 1995, he served as the university's interim executive vice president and provost. For eight years, he held various roles in the system's statewide agriculture program, including four years as the system's deputy vice chancellor of agriculture and executive associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
He was professor and head of the forest science department at Texas A&M from 1983 to 1989 and also has served as associate director and interim director of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station.
Lee holds a bachelor's degree in forestry and a Ph.D. in forestry/genetics from North Carolina State University. He also has done graduate work at Duke University.