(AUSTIN) – The Board of the Regents of the Texas State University System and Chancellor Brian McCall, Ph.D., today announced the selection of Dana Gibson, Ph.D., as sole finalist in the Sam Houston State University (SHSU) presidential search. Dr. Gibson, a resident of Huntsville, currently serves as SHSU’s vice president for finance and operations, a position she has held since 2009.
“Dr. Gibson has an impressive record as an educator and administrator, and I’m delighted that Sam Houston State University will continue to benefit from her leadership, passion and energy,” said Chancellor McCall.
“Sam Houston State University is a very special place with a rich history of excellent leadership so I am deeply honored to be selected to serve as the university’s next president,” stated Dr. Gibson.
Prior to her tenure at SHSU, Dr. Gibson served as president of National University, a private, not-forprofit 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. Dr. Gibson also held executive-level positions at the YMCA of Metropolitan Denver and Texas Woman’s University.
Dr. Gibson earned a B.S. degree in business-accounting and an M.B.A. at Texas Woman’s University, where she later taught accounting and management information systems as a professor and lecturer. She also attended the University of Texas at Arlington, where she earned a Ph.D. in business. Dr. Gibson is active in civic and charitable causes, including serving on the boards of Huntsville Memorial Hospital, Voice for Children and the Denver Downtown Partnership.
Dr. Gibson will fill the position being vacated by current SHSU president James Gaertner, who is retiring August 31. By law, a university board of regents may not vote on the employment of a chief executive officer of a higher education institution before 21 days after giving public notice of the name of the finalist.