About the Chancellor
Thomas F. George is chancellor and professor of chemistry and physics at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. As chancellor, he oversees academic and administrative operations of a university with 16,800 students, 2,500 faculty and staff, 40 academic buildings and a $200 million annual operating budget.
Chancellor George is active in the St. Louis community, and in 2008 he received the (1) Distinguished Higher Education Award from the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Missouri State Celebration Commission and (2) Louis North County Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year. In addition to his role as campus and community leader and fund-raiser, Chancellor George is an active researcher in chemistry and physics, specializing in chemical/materials/nano/laser physics. His work has led to 735 papers, 5 authored and 18 edited books, and 210 conference abstracts. He has been recognized nationally and worldwide, such as being awarded the Marlow Medal by the Royal Society of Chemistry in Great Britain and named a fellow in various professional organizations (New York Academy of Sciences, American Physical Society, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, American Association for the Advancement of Science) and foundations (Dreyfus, Sloan, Guggenheim). In 2004 he was elected as a foreign member of the Korean Academy of Science and Technology, and he has held the title of visiting professor of physics at Korea University in Seoul. In 2008 he received an honorary doctorate in physics (honoris causa) from the University of Szeged in Hungary, and in 2010 he was awarded the Medal of Honor by Gulf University for Science and Technology in Kuwait.
An accomplished jazz pianist, Chancellor George has studied with faculty at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. He has performed extensively in public, including recent performances at the following: Sheldon Concert Hall, Finale, Jazz at the Bistro, Black Cat Theatre, Kranzberg Arts Center, New Jewish Theatre, St. Louis Country Club, Touhill Performing Arts Center, Powell Hall, University of Missouri (in both Columbia and St. Louis), St. Louis Jazz & Heritage Festival, St. Louis Route 66 Festival and Normandy Jazz Festival in Missouri; Art in the Park in Belleville, Illinois; University of Arkansas; Nanjing University in China; the city of Szeged in Hungary; West University of Timisoara in Romania; and Gulf University for Science and Technology in Kuwait. He has also performed in Russian Siberia.
Born in Philadelphia, Chancellor George became an Eagle Scout and received his high school diploma from Friends' Central School, where he earned varsity letters in soccer and wrestling. He received a bachelor of arts degree (Phi Beta Kappa) with a double major in chemistry and mathematics from Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania. He earned a master of science degree and doctor of philosophy degree in theoretical chemistry from Yale University (two weeks after his 23rd birthday), followed by postdoctoral appointments at MIT and UC Berkeley. Joining the faculty at the University of Rochester, he was promoted by age 29 to full professor of chemistry. He then served as dean of natural sciences and mathematics at SUNY-Buffalo, provost at Washington State University, chancellor at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, and since 2003 as chancellor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
