Lee Trover Todd Jr. (born May 6, 1946, in Earlington, Kentucky) was the 11th president of the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city coterminous with and the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census the city's population was 322,570, making it the List of ...

Early life and education

Todd was born in 1946 in Earlington, Kentucky, a small town close to Madisonville. He earned a bachelor's degree in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems that use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from the University of Kentucky in 1968. He went on to earn his master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

in 1970 and 1973. Todd studied at MIT thanks in part to a fellowship from the

Hertz Foundation The Fannie and John Hertz Foundation is an American non-profit organization that awards fellowships to Ph.D. students in the applied physical, biological and engineering sciences. The fellowship begins with up to $250,000 of financial support ...

, following a personal encouragement from

Edward Teller Edward Teller (; January 15, 1908 – September 9, 2003) was a Hungarian and American Theoretical physics, theoretical physicist and chemical engineer who is known colloquially as "the father of the hydrogen bomb" and one of the creators of ...

. He returned to UK in 1974 and served as an electrical engineering associate professor until 1983. Lee Todd has been known to attend most home basketball games, and would commonly sit by Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear and his family.

Retirement

On September 8, 2010, Todd announced that he would step down as president effective June 30, 2011. Todd remained on the faculty at the university, serving as a Professor of Electrical Engineering.

References

Bio at University of Kentucky
{{DEFAULTSORT:Todd, Lee T. Jr. 1946 births Living people University of Kentucky College of Engineering alumni People from Hopkins County, Kentucky MIT School of Engineering alumni IBM employees Presidents of the University of Kentucky