Walker, Mark L.
Dr. Mark L. Walker (born 1959) was appointed the 17th president of Lee University in 2020 after serving the institution as vice president for Ministerial Development and the Chair of the Christian Ministries Department since 2017. Walker assumed his presidency on August 1, 2020, during the COVID-19 global pandemic, which delayed his inauguration ceremony until April 23, 2021.
Prior to coming to Lee, Walker served 30 years in pastoral ministry, first as the associate pastor of Mount Paran Central Church of God in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1985-1988, during which time he helped oversee the opening of the Mount Paran North campus in Marietta, Georgia. Walker then served as senior pastor of First Assembly of God in Orlando, Florida from 1988 to 1992 before returning as the associate pastor of Mount Paran North Church of God in Marietta, Georgia (1992-1997). Walker served as senior pastor of Mount Paran North from 1997 until his appointment at Lee in 2017.
A graduate of Georgia State University, Walker earned a degree in Business Administration and began his career in the computer software industry at Management Science America (MSA) in Atlanta, Georgia in 1982. Three years later he accepted a call into full-time pastoral ministry. He later earned a Master of Counseling degree from Georgia State University and a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Walker married Udella Richardson in 1984. Mrs. Walker is a graduate of Lee (Class of 1983), as are their two children, Justin (Class of 2009) and Ashten (Class of 2013). During the Walkers’ tenure at Mount Paran North, the congregation was a key supporter of Lee University, through generous donors and the large number of students enrolling at the institution. Walker’s parents, Dr. Paul L. Walker (1932-2021) and Carmelita Howell Walker (1932-2021), and his brother, Paul Dana Walker (1956-1980), each graduated from Lee College. Walker served as a member of Lee’s Board of Directors (2010-2017) and has as a frequent speaker at Lee’s chapel and Convocation services.
During Walker’s presidency, higher education institutions nationally have faced challenges as a result of decreased student enrollment due to a lower college-age population, an economic downturn, the COVID-19 pandemic and its lingering impact, and increasing cultural tensions globally. Since 2019, the year before Walker assumed the presidency, Lee experienced a downturn in enrollment, requiring the institution to restructure its programs and personnel, similar to the same circumstances the institution experienced in the early 1980's. Walker’s leadership expertise has allowed Lee to navigate the challenges in ways that maintain the institution’s commitment to a Christ-centered educational experience focused on students’ holistic development and with an anticipation for good things ahead.
In his inaugural address on April 23, 2021, titled “Let Us Be Light!”, Walker highlighted this anticipation for the future for Lee by outlining five foundational commitments (mission excellence, academic expansion, student and community engagement, program innovation, and ministerial development) and emphasizing three strategic areas on which the university must focus its curricular and co-curricular activity (apologetics, leadership development, and racial and ethnic relations). He reminded the Lee University family:
Prior to coming to Lee, Walker served 30 years in pastoral ministry, first as the associate pastor of Mount Paran Central Church of God in Atlanta, Georgia, from 1985-1988, during which time he helped oversee the opening of the Mount Paran North campus in Marietta, Georgia. Walker then served as senior pastor of First Assembly of God in Orlando, Florida from 1988 to 1992 before returning as the associate pastor of Mount Paran North Church of God in Marietta, Georgia (1992-1997). Walker served as senior pastor of Mount Paran North from 1997 until his appointment at Lee in 2017.
A graduate of Georgia State University, Walker earned a degree in Business Administration and began his career in the computer software industry at Management Science America (MSA) in Atlanta, Georgia in 1982. Three years later he accepted a call into full-time pastoral ministry. He later earned a Master of Counseling degree from Georgia State University and a Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership from Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Walker married Udella Richardson in 1984. Mrs. Walker is a graduate of Lee (Class of 1983), as are their two children, Justin (Class of 2009) and Ashten (Class of 2013). During the Walkers’ tenure at Mount Paran North, the congregation was a key supporter of Lee University, through generous donors and the large number of students enrolling at the institution. Walker’s parents, Dr. Paul L. Walker (1932-2021) and Carmelita Howell Walker (1932-2021), and his brother, Paul Dana Walker (1956-1980), each graduated from Lee College. Walker served as a member of Lee’s Board of Directors (2010-2017) and has as a frequent speaker at Lee’s chapel and Convocation services.
During Walker’s presidency, higher education institutions nationally have faced challenges as a result of decreased student enrollment due to a lower college-age population, an economic downturn, the COVID-19 pandemic and its lingering impact, and increasing cultural tensions globally. Since 2019, the year before Walker assumed the presidency, Lee experienced a downturn in enrollment, requiring the institution to restructure its programs and personnel, similar to the same circumstances the institution experienced in the early 1980's. Walker’s leadership expertise has allowed Lee to navigate the challenges in ways that maintain the institution’s commitment to a Christ-centered educational experience focused on students’ holistic development and with an anticipation for good things ahead.
In his inaugural address on April 23, 2021, titled “Let Us Be Light!”, Walker highlighted this anticipation for the future for Lee by outlining five foundational commitments (mission excellence, academic expansion, student and community engagement, program innovation, and ministerial development) and emphasizing three strategic areas on which the university must focus its curricular and co-curricular activity (apologetics, leadership development, and racial and ethnic relations). He reminded the Lee University family:
This is why the world needs Lee! So, let us be light!
We are the Lee University Flames. A flame is a powerful source of light. Today, as we gather for the inauguration of the 17th president of our beloved institution, let us choose to embrace once again whom Christ calls us to be – “His light in the world.”
We must be reminded today, that we exist because students matter to God. They are more than a number, a degree program, or a “job waiting to happen;” they are children of God made in His image, called for His purpose to be His light in the darkness. That’s why we offer our students more than the knowledge of a major; we offer them a life-transforming journey of integrating their identity, purpose, faith and values with the person and purpose of Jesus Christ.
May we never forget that Lee is God’s place, and we are doing God’s work, loving, serving and working together God’s way! Be excited, today, Lee University - the world needs Lee! Our mission is clear and our dreams are high – because the world is a better place with Lee students in it! Let us be light!
/ L. F. Morgan
Watch the video of the Inauguration Ceremony for Dr. Mark L. Walker
April 23, 2021
April 23, 2021