David Lee, in the words of his colleagues
“David played a central role in laying out the case for why a college of engineering at UGA was going to be critical to all of the other research efforts we were undertaking. When you look now at the growth of UGA research expenditures, I think you can tie it all back to what happened with the launch of the College of Engineering … He's so self-effacing. He never wants to take credit for anything that happens at the institution, and yet so many good things have happened thanks to his extraordinary leadership.”
Jere W. Morehead – President, University of Georgia
“The competition nationally and internationally is fierce, and even in the nine years I’ve been here, the research reputation of the university has changed positively a great deal. When I first came to UGA, some of my colleagues in Europe asked why Georgia, and why not a higher ranked university. I was asked the question: Why was I doing such a thing? And now we're approached by many of the universities that we would have wanted to approach before. They now come to us. So that’s my answer, which David helped our community get to.”
Nicholas Allen – Endowed Professor of the Humanities and Director, Willson Center for the Humanities and Arts
“I attribute a lot of David’s success to his personal operating style—how he talks to people and the trust he develops in them. With faculty, he has a trust level with them that has to do with his plainspokenness. If he can’t do something, he’s going to come right out and tell you, ‘I can’t do it.’ And he does it in such a good way that people know that he would do it if he could, but here’s what he can do.”
Larry Hornak – Associate Vice President for Integrative Team Initiatives, Office of Research
“He has an exceptional eye for research talent. He looks at it strategically: Do they fill a gap at the university? Will they be able to recruit the very best grad students? Will they be able to compete effectively for the big grants and change the landscape of the research enterprise in a positive way? One of the important things he says to them is, ‘If you come to UGA as a GRA Eminent Scholar, you’re going to be part of something bigger than the university.’ And I think that resonates with people of the caliber we’re recruiting.”
Susan Shows – President, Georgia Research Alliance
“I can’t even count the number of search committees he's chaired, or program reviews he’s participated in, or times he’s represented us in Washington. For our last SACS reaccreditation, he spent time brainstorming with committees to get ideas, and that’s how he helped bring forward ideas that led us to the First Year Odyssey program. He really thinks about the university as a whole. He’s participating as vice president for research, but he’s also thinking about how to move the whole institution.”
Meg Amstutz - Associate Provost and Chief of Staff, Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
“He’s a researcher. He’s a scientist. He understands the science, and what he doesn’t understand? That’s his homework for the night. He’ll go home and read it. This man was on call 24/7 for how many, 16 years? That can’t be an easy life, but he did it so well. And David was the epitome of kindness to me, especially as I cared for my aging parents. I don’t know of many bosses who would have been so understanding, and I am forever grateful.”
Jeanne Cochran – longtime Associate to the Vice President for Research (retired)
“He made it possible to do big things in research here. He injected a positive, can-do attitude to research. I think people feel like, ‘I want to do this thing. I can do it.’ And I don’t think that people quite had that facilitated atmosphere toward being aggressive and being ambitious in their research. David’s made it possible to be ambitious in research at UGA. And that’s a big thing, right? It’s a total cultural change.”
Nancy Manley – Professor and Department Head, Genetics
“One of the most important things he’s accomplished is the deep relationship that we've developed with the Georgia Research Alliance while he’s been here and the ability to recruit, strategically, high-quality faculty. And not just hire on a random basis but with strategic direction to intentionally build both new hubs of excellence and deepen the expertise we have in traditional strengths. When you consider the relationships and resources GRA brings to the table for that kind of recruitment, we would not have been able to accomplish everything that we have absent David’s relationship with GRA.”
Jessica Orbock – Senior Legal Advisor, Office of Research
“I chaired the search for vice president for research in 2005, and that’s when I met David the first time. When we interviewed him, it was very clear that he had a very diverse perspective of research and what it should be. It just seemed like he was the right fit at the right time. And he was just an easygoing person, too, which made the committee feel really comfortable with him.”
Al Darvill – Director, Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
“The thing that David understands better than anybody is the importance of leverage. One of the things he has done incredibly well is master how to put modest amounts of money into something to make much, much bigger things happen. He may only invest 10%, 15%, or sometimes up to a quarter or a third of it, but we get huge returns—because without that investment, the thing would not have happened.”
Carl Bergmann – Associate Vice President, Office of Research
“The great thing about David is that he truly understands the land- and sea-grant missions and appreciates them. He has always been interested in how the research we do at UGA improves quality of life in the state of Georgia. He has been a big cheerleader for UGA’s outreach programs and a great partner in exploring new ways to extend the knowledge and research generated here to solve challenges in the state. I’m really going to miss him for that.”
Jennifer Frum – Vice President for Public Service and Outreach
“He’s a great people person. He works well with the faculty. He works well with other academic leaders, deans and other vice presidents and vice provosts. He is also a servant leader, in my view, which means that he’s focused on supporting the institution and the faculty. It’s the right leadership style.”
Jack Hu – Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
“His communication skills and breadth of knowledge about so many different areas of research are kind of his strong suit. He can take anything that’s written and make it better. He can improve on what we produce and make it better, make it cleaner, make it easier to understand. He’s just got that touch for communication, and it comes across in his talks. When he talks, he’s very clear and persuasive and can sell a good story about research at Georgia.”
Kevin Burt – Director of Business and Human Resources, Office of Research
“He really has a sincere enthusiasm for the value of research and scholarship. I think his biggest accomplishment is the culture change that has happened largely due to his efforts. The programs he’s built, the administrative structure he’s built and the people he’s hired—it’s fundamentally changed the culture of research at UGA. It’s a very different place to do research than it was in 2004 when I joined the institution. He deserves a lot of the credit for that, he and the people he assembled around him.”
Shelley Hooks – Associate Vice President, Office of Research
“David is very good at just listening. He might have his own thoughts and ideas, but most of the time when I’m in meetings with him, his No. 1 goal is to listen to each person, and he reflects back to make sure he understands exactly what they’re saying. I’ve been in very few meetings where David has started off with, ‘This is how I want to go’ or ‘This is what I want to do.’ He may have that already in his head, but generally the team is who is bringing those ideas forward.”
Ted Ross – GRA Eminent Scholar in Infectious Diseases and Director, Center for Vaccines and Immunology
“He doesn’t feel he has to have all the answers; he can convene folks and listen to them and hear their input, and then plot a path forward. Another thing that comes to mind is his accessibility. He doesn't hide behind a generic email—people email him directly. That’s probably a blessing and a curse from his perspective, but he’s responsive whenever a challenge is brought to his attention.”
Derek Eberhart – Associate Vice President and Executive Director of Innovation Gateway, Office of Research
“He hires good people and then gives them enough autonomy to do their jobs. He's got his head in the game when you need his head in the game, but he’s not a micromanager. He doesn’t hover over you, he provides autonomy. He provides general guidance on where he would like to see the program go and what it needs to do, and then he’ll stand back and let you do it.”
Chris King – Associate Vice President, Office of Research
“We wouldn’t have the New Materials Institute today if it weren’t for David Lee. David bought into the vision we had for replacing materials that are persistent in the environment and developing and using an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to tackling large problems like that. He bought into that really early and helped mentor and support the development of the institute. He’s been supportive all along, and there would be no New Materials Institute if it weren’t for David.”
Jason Locklin – Professor of Engineering and Chemistry; Director, New Materials Institute
“I love how David celebrates the successes of others—whether it is faculty who get an award, employees who get a promotion, or when he sees you receive positive feedback from someone else. He celebrates alongside you. He wants people to know we are doing a good job and he appreciates us. Each time, he demonstrates his appreciation for our successes.”
Jill Tincher – Executive Director, Sponsored Projects Administration
“One thing I appreciate is David’s willingness to listen to different perspectives and adapt. I worked closely with him during COVID, co-chairing the research resumption working group. The research resumption plan we came out with was not what he envisioned going into it. All of the discussions with the working group made us realize there was an easier, more fair way to get research going again, so he changed direction. In the end we were able to get research restarted much quicker and more safely at UGA than in many other places because he listened to the working group. Also, during the initial COVID shutdown, he personally vetted every request for exemptions to allow labs to stay open. It would have been easy to hand that off to someone and let them take the heat for unpopular decisions. But he got into the details and worked to make fair and safe decisions.”
Michelle Momany – Professor of Fungal Biology and Associate Dean, Franklin College of Arts & Sciences
“David was instrumental in energizing research in the humanities and arts as he recruited and retained strong leadership for the Willson Center for the Humanities and Arts. He has delegated and entrusted the team under Nicholas Allen as they have transformed the center into a true hotbed of innovative research and arts that also nourishes the wider communities in Georgia and beyond. Arts and humanities at UGA now draw on and nourish the vast cultural riches of the communities we serve.”
Elizabeth Wright – Distinguished Research Professor, Romance Languages
“David is very thoughtful. He applies a broad aperture to problems, seeing how a seemingly isolated issue connects with many parts of the organization. He is a strong advocate for research in higher education, and that comes across in the meetings and in the interactions that he has with internal and external stakeholders. He also has a very broad scientific understanding, from life sciences to physical sciences—he sees the big picture and is able to apply that broad approach to problems he faces as an administrator.”
Kyle Tschepikow - Special Assistant to the President and Director for Strategy and Innovation, Office of the President
“He is incredibly responsive. You can ask him a question, you can send him an email, and he gets right back to you. It’s really impressive, considering all the different things I know he’s juggling all the time. I just know that I don’t have to wait—if I need him, he’s there. I really appreciate that.”
Merryl Alber – Professor of Marine Science and Director, UGA Marine Institute
Vision + hard work = results
UGA’s research enterprise certainly has transformed over the course of Lee’s tenure, particularly in the last several years. By virtually any metric, the university has made significant strides, and while Lee is quick to note that it “takes a village to make such progress,” his contributions in many areas have been notable.
Take faculty recruitment: Lee led the recruitment of the last nine GRA Eminent Scholars to come to UGA, including Robin Buell and Anamantha Kanthasamy, who will join the university this fall. Each individual was recruited strategically to bolster an existing or aspirational research strength, often as part of a targeted cluster hire in a specific area.
One example is the 2015 recruitment of GRA Eminent Scholar Ted Ross and the plan for Ross to establish a vaccine center once he arrived.
“We had to work pretty closely to sell this idea of a new center,” said Ross, who now directs the Center for Vaccines and Immunology in the College of Veterinary Medicine. “David had to put a lot of his own clout on the line to convince others that the center would pay for itself. Because not only did we have to build the center, but we had to come up with the funds to renovate the college’s space. That was instrumental, and David was the one who led the effort.”
Fast forward four years from Ross’ arrival to September 2019, when the NIH awarded UGA a seven-year contract worth up to $130 million to establish a multi-institutional center to develop a universal flu vaccine. That was followed last month by another award from NIH, this time to Professor Mark Tompkins, a colleague in CVM, as principal investigator. This contract, again for seven years and up to almost $92 million, established a second multi-site center to study the ecology of flu and help prepare for future pandemics. Suddenly, UGA’s investments in infectious disease research are looking very smart indeed.
“Building a capacity like this is not something that happens overnight,” Tompkins said. “There was a concerted effort at the college level and certainly at the university level, and David Lee has been very supportive for many years of the growth of the infectious disease research footprint at UGA.”
While nine-figure research awards may grab a lot of attention, Lee also worked to support faculty outside of STEM fields, including through the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts. When he arrived, the Willson Center was housed in the basement of the Psychology Building, near the loading dock—not exactly the kind of physical environment to inspire the human spirit. Through the generosity of the Willson family, the Office of the President and the Office of Research, the center relocated to a charming two-story house on Lumpkin Street that now is a center of grant success and intellectual community for the humanities and arts.
“I used to look out at the loading bay and think, ‘We can do better than this’—and, with David’s encouragement, we did,” said Nicholas Allen, Willson Center director and holder of an endowed Professorship in the Humanities, whom Lee helped recruit to UGA in 2011. “I often think of that when I sit in the new Willson Center, and we have this beautiful building where people come and they can see that humanities and the arts are valued at the University of Georgia.”
Another example of Lee’s foresight is the revitalization of critical research units. The Savannah River Ecology Laboratory and UGA Marine Institute—both with histories stretching back to the mid-20th century—faced existential crises during Lee’s tenure. In the late 2000s, SREL was staring down the abrupt loss of millions of dollars in Department of Energy annual funding, prompting many to fear for its survival. A decade later UGAMI, located on Sapelo Island off the Georgia coast, was hit hard by Hurricane Irma, sustaining major damage to a physical infrastructure that had been deteriorating for decades.
Today both units are back on the path to growth. UGAMI’s facilities have undergone major renovations since the hurricane flooding, while SREL’s co-located presence is likely one of the big reasons a team that includes UGA was recently awarded the management contract for the Savannah River National Lab.
Carl Bergmann, associate vice president for research overseeing facilities and infrastructure, was centrally involved in both projects. He recalled making multiple trips with Lee to Washington to talk with DOE officials about how to turn SREL around.
“When David and I first started going there, we would get shoved into this room down in the basement, like being in the middle of a prison,” Bergmann said. “By six months in, we knew we were on the right path because all of a sudden we were in a meeting room on the sixth floor with a view of the Mall. We looked at one another and said, ‘I guess we’re doing all right.’”
“He’s been incredibly supportive of what we’re doing down at Sapelo,” said UGAMI Director Merryl Alber, adding that Lee makes a point to be on the island for periodic National Science Foundation site visits related to Georgia Coastal Ecosystems, the NSF Long-Term Ecological Research project for which Alber is principal investigator and one of the major research projects operating at UGAMI.
“David has helped that LTER really be a success, and that’s something that’s not a given,” Alber said. “I’ve seen colleagues in other universities who haven’t gotten as much support, and it’s been harder for them.”
“I’m proud of the work we’ve done to turn around SREL and UGAMI, both of which were in precarious positions,” Lee said. “With the win at Savannah River National Lab, we have an opportunity to leverage our success with SREL, the expansion of the College of Engineering and other assets in order to grow our Department of Energy portfolio, and we’ve also taken steps to position UGA to be more successful with the Department of Defense. That could be significant.”
Tuning up the innovation engine
Lee has also helped the university grow the societal and economic impacts of UGA research activities for the broad community UGA serves. In the early 2010s, Lee was the driving force behind Thinc. Week, which for several years drew together entrepreneurs—especially students—on campus with likeminded innovators in the community. Next he oversaw the integration of the university’s two technology-transfer units—the Technology Commercialization Office, which handled intellectual property licensing, and the Georgia BioBusiness Center, which supported startup companies—into a single front door, Innovation Gateway.
Later, in late 2017, he was appointed by Morehead to co-chair a task force that led to the creation of UGA’s Innovation District, a university-wide initiative intended to support and catalyze innovation and entrepreneurship among faculty, students, staff and the wider UGA and Athens community, as well as strengthen the university’s connections to industry partners.
“David’s leadership has impacted our innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem in lots of different ways,” said Derek Eberhart, associate vice president for research and executive director of Innovation Gateway. “He brought together stakeholders and said we should think strategically about the innovation function and how we might craft it. He was the one who really helped kick off that conversation at a senior administration retreat, and now the Innovation District will be part of his legacy.”
Since its creation, Kyle Tschepikow, special assistant to the president and director for strategy and innovation, has served with Lee as co-lead of the Innovation District launch team. The two have traveled to other universities to tour similar programs and spent countless hours, in group meetings and smaller discussions, talking through UGA’s needs in the innovation space.
“What I’m doing is figuring out how to amplify David’s world,” said Tschepikow. “Things that happen in labs and research spaces across our campus are turned into products, into solutions, that make a significant impact on the lives of people across the state, and David helped me to see that in a way I never did before. He’s been a great champion for that part of the university’s land-grant mission.”
By helping to shape that innovation ecosystem, as well as by recruiting many of the researchers who play such important roles in it, Lee has also strengthened the vital relationship between UGA and the Georgia Research Alliance. GRA was itself founded in 1990 as a public-private partnership with the mission of expanding university research and entrepreneurship, fueling a technology-based economy. According to GRA President Susan Shows, Lee has played a big part in reaching that goal.
“David is living proof of how important that VPR position is,” said Shows, who served on the search committee that brought Lee to Athens. “He has an exceptional eye for research talent.
“And, thinking strategically about those researchers’ infrastructure needs, he’s helped GRA decide where we can place equipment that would benefit a wide range of faculty.”
Skills of a leader
No one lasts 16 years as a vice president at a major university without bringing a wide range of skills to the table. In managing one of UGA’s largest and most complex support units, Lee has demonstrated strategic vision, financial acumen, trust in his leadership team, a genuine and wide-ranging scholarly curiosity—and a refreshing dose of humility, say his colleagues.
“He has very good instincts about what’s going to work and what’s not going to work,” said Shelley Hooks, associate vice president for research and a faculty member in the College of Pharmacy. “At the same time, he’s also willing to let us try something new, to take a little bit of a chance and experiment with new ideas.”
Hooks is one of a team of senior research leaders under Lee’s direction in the Office of Research who manage research safety, research compliance, sponsored projects, technology transfer, startup incubator programming, research communications, postdoctoral affairs, internal grants and awards, and more—with all these components led by research administrators Lee brought on board.
That operation, several faculty and administrators said, is a big reason why UGA has experienced such research success.
“It’s a good machine that runs smoothly,” said S. Jack Hu, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. “Every university has challenges in research administration, but overall I think our various offices are operating at a high level.”
“He put a lot of effort into making sure the support services and compliance and everything else actually works,” said Nancy Manley, Distinguished Research Professor and department head for genetics, who chairs a faculty advisory group for the Office of Research. “And it works, to a large extent, in the background and in a customer service-oriented way. That’s going to have a long-lasting impact.”
Along with a willingness to patiently listen and gather many perspectives before making a decision, perhaps Lee’s most-mentioned trait is the ethos of servant leadership he’s brought to the Office of Research. Every situation, every challenge, every opportunity is viewed through the lens of what provides the best support to the broadest swath of investigators and students. It’s a mindset he’s instilled in the people who work for him.
“Whenever he’s framing an issue, he always frames it by focusing on the faculty and lab members: ‘We’re here to serve them, and how can we serve them well?’” said Jill Tincher, executive director of Sponsored Projects Administration. “That approach is really commendable.”
“In David’s mind, we are here to serve the faculty, the students and the institution—to make things easier for them,” said Jessica Orbock, senior legal adviser in the Office of Research. “David wants us to deliver top-notch service. We’ve all taken that away from working with him, and it is woven into the culture of the office.”
And it goes beyond faculty. Part of his legacy, UGA’s president emphasized, should be his commitment to undergraduate education. Morehead said that Lee played a central role in the continued development of the Center for Undergraduate Research Opportunities and its annual symposium, at which students display posters and give oral presentations explaining their own research.
“David was always there at the CURO Symposium, always part of it, always encouraging undergraduate research activities,” Morehead said. “He said it was that kind of activity for him as an undergraduate that he credits with the development of his career, so he was committed to making sure UGA undergraduates had the same opportunities that he enjoyed.”
Indeed, a dedication to service to the entire university is the first thing Lee mentions when talking about the qualifications of an effective VPR.
“You’ve got to want to make a difference. I can honestly say that most of the 16 years on this job I have woken up every morning wondering what I can do to help advance the institution,” Lee said. “Mostly I’ll miss the people—the many faculty and staff I work with, and my administrator peers as well. Also, I taught one of the First-Year Odyssey classes for many years and bonded with students from each class. I’ll miss that, too.
“I have literally seen research blossom across campus. We have so many faculty and students doing so many interesting and important things that I hate to single any out,” he said. “Folks outside the university tell me that UGA’s reputation as a research institution has grown rather dramatically.
“If that’s so, it’s something we can all be proud of.”
