Dr. Paul Risser holds a B.A. in biology from Grinnell College, an M.S. in botany and a PhD. in botany and soils from the University of Wisconsin at Madison. He was also awarded an honorary degree from Grinnell College in 1994. Dr. Risser was chancellor of the Oklahoma State System of Higher Education from 2003-2006. Risser led a state system comprised of 25 state colleges and universities, nine constituent agencies, two higher education centers and independent colleges and universities coordinated with the state system. Before assuming the Oklahoma Chancellor position, Risser was president of Oregon State University, where he led the university to record enrollment and impressive growth over a seven-year span. His professional background also includes serving as president of Miami University, Oxford, Ohio; provost and vice president for academic affairs at the University of New Mexico; and chief of the Illinois Natural History Survey. Dr. Risser is an internationally recognized biologist who currently serves as associate member of the Paris-based Scientific Committee on Problems of the Environment (SCOPE), where he also served as Secretary General from 1995-98. He also served six years as chairman of the Board on Ecosystem Studies and Toxicology for the National Academy of Sciences and chairs the Board of Trustees for the Institute of Ecosystem Studies. He was appointed as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1985 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1994. He has consulted, or served as an advisor, for many prestigious science organizations, including the National Science Foundation and the National Academy of Sciences, and agencies conducting scientific research and public policy development, including the Department of Energy, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the National Park Service. He and his wife, Les, are parents of six grown children.