Charles Lee Isbell Jr.

Charles Lee Isbell Jr.
11th Chancellor of the
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Assumed office
August 1, 2025
Preceded byRobert J. Jones
Provost of the University of Wisconsin–Madison
In office
2023 (2023) – 2025 (2025)
Preceded byKarl Scholz
Personal details
Born (1968-12-18) December 18, 1968
EducationGeorgia Institute of Technology (BS)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD)
Scientific career
FieldsComputer science
InstitutionsGeorgia Tech
AT&T
University of Wisconsin
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Thesis Sparse Multi-Level Representations for Text Retrieval  (1998)
Doctoral advisorRodney Brooks
Paul Viola

Charles Lee Isbell Jr. (born December 18, 1968) is an American computer scientist, currently serving as the 11th chancellor of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since August 2025.

Isbell joined the faculty of the Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing in 2002 and served as the dean of the College of Computing from July 2019 to July 2023. He served as provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at the University of Wisconsin–Madison from August 2023 to June 2025.

Isbell's research interests focus on machine learning and artificial intelligence, particularly interactive and human-centered AI. He has published about 100 scientific papers.