Biography
Lee T. Todd, Jr. became the 11th president of the University of Kentucky on July 1, 2001, after serving as senior vice president of IBM's Lotus Development Corp. President Todd is the sixth UK alumnus to hold the presidency.
Since his arrival on campus, President Todd has concentrated his efforts and energies on helping his alma mater achieve a greater level of national prominence. To that end, he launched the University of Kentucky's Top 20 Business Plan in December 2005. The plan is a quantitative analysis highlighting what it will take for UK to achieve its state-mandated goal of building a Top 20 public research university. Widely hailed as the first business plan by a public university in the nation, UK's plan garnered widespread national attention. It has been featured by national media outlets and recognized by peer institutions, as several higher education leaders have visited UK's campus to learn more about the Business Plan approach. The Top 20 Business Plan also gained support throughout the Commonwealth, as the Kentucky General Assembly fully funded the plan beginning in 2007-08.
President Todd has spearheaded an effort to revitalize health care in Kentucky. In June 2006, UK unveiled the Commonwealth's Medical Campus of the Future, a multi-phased project aimed at providing Kentuckians with cutting-edge, 21st century health care. As part of the revamped academic medical campus, UK will construct a new, one million square foot University of Kentucky Albert B. Chandler Hospital, a new College of Pharmacy, and a new University Health Service (UHS) facility. All three of those projects are currently underway.
His belief that “the campus of the University of Kentucky is the Commonwealth of Kentucky” has inspired President Todd to make community outreach a university priority. In May 2005, UK unveiled the Commonwealth Collaboratives, an initiative that combines the university's research and outreach missions. Featuring 23 research projects led by some of university's world-class researchers, the Commonwealth Collaboratives are aimed at solving the “Kentucky Uglies,” a term President Todd uses to describe conditions that have held Kentucky back for generations. The Collaboratives are designed to have an impact on health care, education, economic development, environmental conditions, and quality of life.
Under his leadership, UK was awarded a $22 million grant from the National Science Foundation to improve math and science education in Eastern Kentucky. He also developed the Health Education through Extension Leadership (HEEL) program, a partnership between the College of Public Health and the College of Agriculture and its Cooperative Extension Service, to deliver valuable health and wellness information throughout the Commonwealth.
UK further cemented its reputation for Cooperative Extension innovation in 2005, when the university became the first land-grant university in the United States to hire a fine arts extension agent in Pike County. The fine arts agent is expanding and promoting an already thriving arts community while leveraging the arts' potential to enhance the area's economy. The program has been so successful that the university has expanded the program, adding a fine arts agent in Greenup County.
President Todd has directed the consolidation of several colleges and campus units to eliminate duplication and improve campus efficiency. To date, those efficiency efforts have resulted in $65.4 million in university savings. At the same time, he expanded the university's educational reach. In May 2004, the UK Board of Trustees approved the creation of the UK College of Public Health, the university's first health professions college since the College of Allied Health Professions was established in 1966. This action allowed the School of Public Health, formerly part of the College of Medicine, to attain college status, making it the UK Chandler Medical Center's sixth college of health professions.
President Todd's push for national prominence has led to remarkable growth across a number of university measures. Enrollment at UK has grown from 23,852 students in 2000 to 27,240 students in fall 2006 — a 14 percent increase. The university has remained focused on increasing student quality as it grew. In fact, UK's graduation rate is higher today than it was five years ago. In 2000, the percentage of UK students graduating within six years was 55.5 percent. In 2005, it was 59.8 percent — the highest of any public university in Kentucky. From 2001 to 2006, UK's research expenditures have more than doubled —jumping from $159.9 million to $324 million.
A native of Earlington, Ky., President Todd earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from UK in 1968 and his master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1970 and 1973, respectively. While at MIT, he received six patents for high-resolution display technology and proposed using telecommunications and high-resolution displays for data conferencing.
He returned to UK in 1974 as an electrical engineering professor. He won several teaching awards, including the UK Alumni Association Great Teacher Award. He also served on several university panels, including the University Senate for seven years. He was awarded the Outstanding Alumnus of Kentucky Award in 2002 from the Kentucky Advocates for Higher Education.
While at UK, President Todd founded Projectron Inc. in 1981 to make projection cathode ray tubes for flight simulators. He left UK in 1983 to begin product development at a second company, DataBeam Corp., which he had founded in 1976. In 1990, he sold Projectron to Hughes Aircraft Co. and convinced Hughes to move its other CRT operations in California and New York to UK's Coldstream Research Campus. He sold DataBeam, the world's leading provider of real-time collaboration and real-time distance learning software and development platforms, to IBM.
President Todd also co-founded the Kentucky Science and Technology Corp., a not-for-profit organization focused on increasing university research capacity, developing science and technology education (K-12) programs, and encouraging an entrepreneurial economy in Kentucky. He co-authored the initial proposal that resulted in Kentucky being selected as an EPSCoR (Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research) state. This program has resulted in bringing millions of dollars in research and development funds from federal and state matching sources.
President Todd served on the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education. He chaired the Distant Learning Advisory Committee that is responsible for the development of the Kentucky Commonwealth Virtual University and the Commonwealth Virtual Library.
President Todd is currently a member of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee for the American Council on Education (ACE) and the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges (NASULGC). He also serves on NASULGC's President's Council. He serves on the Equitable Resources Board of Directors and is chair of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education's STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) Task Force. He is also a member of the Business Higher Education Forum and the Council on Competitiveness.
He is married to the former Patricia Brantley, a UK graduate who earned her master's degree from Simmons College in Boston. They have two adult children, UK graduates Troy and Kathryn.
December 2007