Board Appoints Gibson SHSU's First Female President

July 14, 2010
Media Contact: Mike Wintemute, director of governmental relations and communications, the Texas State University System

(AUSTIN, TX) – The Texas State University System Board of Regents today unanimously approved the appointment of Dana Gibson as the 13th president of Sam Houston State University in Huntsville. Gibson will assume the presidency on Sept. 1, following the retirement of current SHSU President James Gaertner.

“I am extremely pleased with the process we followed to screen and ultimately select the best candidate to lead Sam Houston State University,” said TSUS Board of Regents Chairman Ron Blatchley. “Fortunately, Dr. Gibson is already on the team and has the support of President Gaertner, so I’m pleased that Sam Houston State will continue to benefit from her leadership and experience.”

TSUS Chancellor Brian McCall added, “I want to thank Dr. Gaertner for his years of service to Sam Houston State University. He has helped build a legacy that will benefit generations of students, faculty and staff, and I’m excited that Dr. Gibson will be leading the university into a new era of excellence.”

Gibson previously served as SHSU’s vice president for Finance and Operations. Prior to this, she was president of National University, a private, not-for-profit university in California. She also held the positions of vice president for business and finance at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and vice chancellor for administration and finance at the University of Colorado at Denver. Gibson also held executive-level positions at the YMCA of Metropolitan Denver and Texas Woman’s University.

Gibson earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business-accounting and a Master of Business Administration at Texas Woman’s University, where she also taught accounting and management information systems as a professor and lecturer. She earned her doctorate in business at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Sam Houston State University, founded in 1879, serves more than 16,000 students and offers 79 bachelor’s degree programs, 54 master’s degree programs and five doctoral programs.

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