HUNTSVILLE — Sam Houston State University will officially install its 13th president, Dana L. Gibson, during an academic investiture on March 8.

The ceremony will begin at 3 p.m. in the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum. A reception will follow until 6 p.m. in the Health and Kinesiology Center.

A 26-member Investiture Committee chaired by associate provost Dick Eglsaer and former Texas State University System regent and Huntsville mayor Jane Monday is planning the event.

An Investiture Website, at http://www.shsu.edu/~pre_www/investiture/, has been established to provide a central source for investiture information. Additional information will be added to that Website as the event nears.

A Texas native, Gibson was named the university’s president in July, following unanimous approval by The Texas State University System. She follows president emeritus James Gaertner, who retired Aug. 31.

Growing up and attending schools in north Texas, Gibson earned her Bachelor of Science degree in business-accounting and her Master of Business Administration at Texas Woman’s University. She received her doctorate in business at the University of Texas at Arlington.

A Certified Public Accountant since 1984, she entered academia in 1986 when she joined the Texas Woman’s University faculty, eventually receiving tenure as an associate professor of accounting and management information systems.

Her career in higher education administration also began at TWU, when, in 1996, she was named TWU’s special assistant to the vice president for finance and administration.  She was promoted to associate vice president for finance and administration and university controller and was named vice president for academic and information services in 2000.

Her administrative career led her to become vice president for finance and administration of the YMCA of Metropolitan Denver, vice chancellor for administration and finance at the University of Colorado at Denver (and Health Sciences Center); vice president for business and finance at Southern Methodist University; and president of National University, the second largest not-for-profit university in California.

In 2009, she joined SHSU as vice president for finance and operations.   

Among her awards are Texas Woman’s University Distinguished Alumna and Southern Methodist University Administrator of the Year.