HUNTSVILLE — Dr. Dana Gibson knows she has some big shoes to fill when she begins her job as Sam Houston State University’s 13th president On Sept. 1 — 12 pairs of past presidential shoes, in fact.

But as she looks to take the helm at the 131-year-old university, she is confident she has what it takes to do so — building upon not only her successes as a university administrator, but on the achievements of those gone before her as well.

Gibson, SHSU’s first female president, was approved for the role by the Texas State University System Board of Regents in mid-July. She was selected from one of three finalists for the position, replacing retiring president Dr. Jim Gaertner.

“I am very excited,” Gibson said about her new role with SHSU. “It is an honor to be chosen as president at a school with such a long history — to have just 13 presidents is a testament to the good, strong leadership of this university.”

Gibson, who currently serves as Vice President for Finance and Operations at SHSU, feels that her current position with the university as well as her past roles in higher education will only enhance her work as president.

She has held her current position with SHSU since April of 2009. Prior to that, from 2007 to 2009, she was president of National University, California’s largest not-for-profit university.

“I think my previous experience at a private university is beneficial because of the changing ways that public universities are looking at various sources of funding,” she said. “Public universities like SHSU are now having to use some of the same methods that private schools use to obtain funding.”

Gibson’s experience as an administrator at multi-campus universities like Southern Methodist University and Texas Women’s University will be an asset to SHSU as well.

“I have dealt with the multi-campus setting before,” she said. “With SHSU’s opening of The Woodlands campus, I know that I will once again work in that kind of environment and be comfortable with it.”

Working with non-traditional students was another experience Gibson touted as beneficial to her role as a university president.

“I am very familiar with the non-traditional student, which will be helpful as the school continues to grow in meeting their needs,” she said. “The new campus at The Woodlands and the Distance Learning technology program will do that in unique ways.”

Her current role in the finance and operations office at SHSU will serve the university well, too, especially as Gibson and the Board of Regents begin looking at the school’s financial situation.

“With the weakening of the economy, it will helpful to be familiar with SHSU’s financial structure,” she said. “It is the right time to have that background.”

There are likely to be many challenges ahead in the area of finance, Gibson said, with potential for budget cuts and reduction in funding normally provided by the state.

“A lot of planning will need to occur to accommodate that,” she said. “We will start this year looking at issues of fiscal years 2012 and 2013 — planning a year or so ahead.

“We have already done some work on the budget and will continue to build on that.”

In addition to maintaining a good financial standing for Sam Houston State University, Gibson touted improvements in technology and community involvement and just a few of the goals she has as the university’s new leader.

“SHSU has worked with the City of Huntsville in some positive initiatives,” she said. “I myself am a member of the Huntsville Memorial Hospital Board and will continue to do so.

“I think being part of things like that are very important,” she added. “I certainly hope to reach out more to the community and build on some of those things that have been started.”

Her greatest goal, though, is simply to continue the great work that SHSU is doing.

“I mainly want to just build upon where Dr. Gaertner will leave off,” she said. “We have such a great opportunity to do that — with the new campus, in Distance Learning and in many other areas.

“We have only scratched the surface of the potential SHSU has in offering a great education to its students,” she added. “I certainly want to take advantage of the groundwork that has been laid.”

Gibson currently resides in Elkins Lake and enjoys playing golf as well as attending sporting events and fine arts performances. An only child, Gibson’s parents reside in the Dallas area and visit her in Huntsville regularly.

“I very much like the community of Huntsville,” she said. “It is a friendly and warm place to live.”

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.

Gibson 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. She also held executive-level positions at the YMCA of Metropolitan Denver and Texas Woman’s University.