Charles L. Purce (July 4, 1856 – August 7, 1905) was an American educator and academic administrator, active in Louisville, Kentucky, and Selma, Alabama.

[1] He converted to the Baptist religion in 1875 and attended the Benedict Institute in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1878 and 1879 and graduated from the Richmond Seminary in 1883.

The same year he succeeded Edward M. Brawley as president at Selma University upon the unanimous vote of the university board and unanimous endorsement of the General Convention of Baptists of the state of Alabama.

[3] He also was the general missionary of the American Baptist Home Mission Society of New York for Alabama.

In 1894, he accepted the presidency of Simmons College of Kentucky, then known as the State University at Louisville, succeeding William J.