03-10-94 Gee Honored by Utah & Columbia

PRESIDENT GEE RECEIVES AWARDS FROM HIS ALMA MATERS

     COLUMBUS -- E. Gordon Gee, president of The Ohio State
University, has received distinguished alumnus honors from both
his alma maters.  Gee was one of four University of Utah
graduates to receive awards Feb. 24 in Salt Lake City.  And on
March 5 he was honored by Teachers College, Columbia University.

     "I am delighted to be recognized by my two alma maters as a
distinguished alumnus -- and both in the same year," Gee said.
"Such occasions have caused me to reflect on the friends and
faculty who started me on an academic career.  I hope they have
no regrets!  I am very grateful for the many wonderful
experiences and opportunities I had at both institutions.  As I
talk with today's students, I am reminded of my own academic
journey through the University of Utah and Columbia University."

     The president received the Teachers College Distinguished
Alumni Award at a luncheon in New York.  As a graduate student,
Gee specialized in legal and administrative problems in
institutions of higher education.  He studied simultaneously for
a doctor of education degree from Teachers College and a law
degree from the Columbia College of Law.  He received his law
degree in 1971 and his doctorate in 1972.  He was a Harlan Fiske
Stone Scholar and Kellogg Fellow.

     Gee's daughter, Rebekah, now is a freshman at Columbia.

     "Dr. Gee's distinguished career is a source of distinction
to the college and we are proud to have the opportunity to honor
him this way," said P. Michael Timpane, president of Teachers
College, Columbia University.

     Since his graduation with a bachelor's degree in history in
1968, the University of Utah has twice honored Gee.  In addition
to the 1994 Distinguished Alumnus Award, he was designated a
Distinguished Young Alumnus in 1982.

     The Distinguished Alumnus Award recognizes Utah alumni who
have served the nation, the university or their professions with
distinction.

     Gee served as the university's assistant dean of law from
1973-74.  Then he was a judicial fellow and senior staff
assistant in the chambers of the Chief Justice of the United
States from 1974 to 1975.  He was associate law dean and
professor of law in the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham
Young University from 1975 to 1979.

     Now in his third university presidency, Gee assumed the
leadership of West Virginia University in 1981 at age 37.  He had
been dean of the law school there from 1979 to 1981.  Gee became
president of the University of Colorado in 1985.  He became chief
executive officer of Ohio State on Sept. 1, 1990.

     Gee has received many honors in the fields of law and
education.  He was written or cowritten six books, including
Information Literacy: Revolution in the Library, which won the
American Library Association G.K. Hall Award for 1990 for the
outstanding contribution to library literature.

     He serves on numerous boards and commissions, including the
Business-Higher Education Forum, the board of directors of the
American Council on Education, the advisory council of presidents
to the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and
Colleges, the executive committee of the Association of American
Universities, and the president's commission of the National
Collegiate Athletic Association.  He is chair of the Council on
Governmental Relations and serves on the executive board of the
National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant
Colleges.

     Active in civic and community affairs, he serves on the
Central Ohio United Negro College Fund advisory committee and is
a member of the boards of Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce, the
Central Ohio Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the United Way
of Franklin County, and the Columbus School for Girls. He is on
the boards of Banc One Corporation and The Limited Inc.
                                
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Contacts: Barbie Tootle, Ohio State University, (614) 292-0909;
          Roy Campbell, Columbia University, (212) 678-3771;
          Neil Hancey, University of Utah, (801) 581-6995.


[Submitted by: REIDV  (reidv@ccgate.ucomm.ohio-state.edu)
               
Thu, 10 Mar 1994 10:59:00 -0500 (EST)]
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