Jerry C. Lee


Jerry C. Lee was the sixth president of Gallaudet University, later becoming the Chancellor of National University. He received a BA from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1963 where he studied history and psychology and was interested in sports and business, then earned both an MA and an EdD from Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University. He had been enrolled in the West Virginia Graduate School of Industrial Relations from 1963 to 1964, but did not obtain a graduate degree, then studied for two years at the University of Baltimore School of Law from 1967 to 1969, but did not earn a J.D. degree In 1986 he was a member of the Board of Directors of the Deafness Research Foundation.
Lee worked as a Management Trainee/Industrial Relations Administrator at General Motors Corporation, Fisher Body Division from 1964 to 1965, then served as Vice President for Administration at Commercial Credit Industrial Corporation from 1965 to 1971. From 1971 to 1977 he served as the Director of General Services at Gallaudet and was promoted to Assistant Vice President for Business Affairs there in 1978 and promoted again to be Vice President for Administration and Business in 1982.
In August 1987, Lee was hired by Jane Bassett Spilman, Gallaudet's Board Chair, to work as a vice president at Bassett Furniture Industries Inc. of southwestern Virginia, whereupon he stepped down as Gallaudet president. He had previously announced upon accepting the position of Gallaudet president that he was only serving on a temporary basis. In 1989 he was hired to become the president of National University, headquartered in California which served students in California, Nevada, and Costa Rica. He was promoted to Chancellor in 2001 when National University was reorganized.
During Lee's tenure as president of Gallaudet, satellite campuses were established in Hawaii, Texas, Florida, and Puerto Rico. He served in the US Army Reserve from 1966 to 1972.

Speeches and publications