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Colonel
Lee D. Badgett
Permanent Professor 1976–1981
B.S., Virginia Military Institute
M.A., Oxford University
Ph.D., Yale University
Lee Badgett, the Academy’s 31st Permanent Professor, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1939. He attended the Virginia Military Institute, graduating with Honors in 1961 with a major in Mathematics and a regular commission in the US Air Force. At VMI he was co-captain of a championship football team, two-time Academic All-American, Regimental Commander, and recipient of VMI’s highest award for character and leadership. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship, and attended Oxford from 1961 to 1964, earning a Master’s degree in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics while developing a lifelong interest in international economics. Following Oxford, Lee began his first of four assignments to the Air Force Academy, teaching the basic economics course as well as a senior-level course in European economic problems. After two years on the faculty, Lee was sent to Yale, where he worked on his doctorate, 1966–1969. He then returned to the Academy for another two years, completed his dissertation, and received his PhD in Economics in 1971. He next was assigned to Saigon, 1971–1972, on the staff of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Economic Affairs, Headquarters Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, where his work focused on economic development and international trade. He returned again to the Academy’s Department of Economics, Geography and Management in 1972 and developed several advanced courses in international military-economics. In 1974 Lee was reassigned to the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Pentagon, Washington, DC, as Military Assistant to the Director of Net Assessment, dealing with the military-economic aspects of long-term competition between the US and the USSR. In 1976 he was appointed a Permanent Professor and served as Head of the Department of Economics, Geography and Management. In 1980 Lee left the Academy on a military sabbatical assignment to become the Head of the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Liaison with British Military Intelligence in London. In 1981 he was reassigned as the Commandant, US Defense Intelligence College (now the National Intelligence University), Bolling AFB, Washington, DC. He retired from the Air Force in 1985.
Following retirement, Lee continued in higher education as Professor of Economics and Dean of the College of Business and Technology, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA, 1985–1990. In 1990 he returned to his alma mater as Provost and Dean of the Faculty, Virginia Military Institute, holding the rank of brigadier general in the Virginia Militia. He retired from VMI in 1996 and took the position of Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at St. Thomas Aquinas College, Orangeburg, NY. He returned once more to VMI as a Visiting Professor in the Economics and Business Department, 2003–2006.