The Southeastern Universities Research Association announced today that West Virginia University President Gordon Gee has been elected chair of the Council of Presidents. Gee previously served as SURA’s Council Chair 15 years ago when he was President of Vanderbilt University.
“SURA is fortunate and delighted to have President Gee back as its leader for a second time,” said Jerry P. Draayer, who has served as SURA President & CEO since 1998. “We are thrilled that a visionary leader of Gordon’s caliber is willing to help direct the organization in such a critically important time for research funding.”
“As research universities, we have a particular mission – and obligation – to use the full extent of our intellectual and institutional capabilities to change the lives of this nation’s citizens for the better,” Gee said. “In this day when each of us is faced with significant financial challenges, it is also important that we work together so that we can make the best use of all the resources available. I am honored to be granted an opportunity to help guide this esteemed membership to that goal.”
Comprised of more than 60 universities, primarily from the Southeastern United States, SURA’s programmatic initiatives have grown beyond their stewardship of the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia—the catalyst for the organization’s beginning in 1980. With new projects established in information technology and coastal research, the expanded membership seeks to partner with universities across the nation to expand collaborative research opportunities.
Gee was elected Chair of the Council of Presidents by the presidents or chancellors of each of the SURA member institutions on Oct. 17. He functionally will serve as the chair of the SURA executive committee, which includes Board officers and the chairs of SURA’s standing committees. The SURA executive committee acts for the Board when the Board is not in session.
Gee will be formally welcomed as the new chair at the SURA board reception to be held at the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center on Thursday evening, Nov. 6.
The Southeastern Universities Research Association (SURA) is a consortium of over 60 leading research institutions in the southeastern United States and the District of Columbia established in 1980 as a non-stock, nonprofit corporation. SURA serves as an entity through which colleges, universities, and other organizations may cooperate with one another, and with government and industry in acquiring, developing, and using laboratories and other research facilities and in furthering knowledge and the application of that knowledge in the physical, biological, and other natural sciences and engineering. For more information, visit www.sura.org.
-WVU-
ms/gk/11/05/14
CONTACT: Greg Kubiak, Southeastern Universities Research Association
202.408.2412, Kubiak@sura.org
Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.