HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Dr. Jerome “Jerry” Gilbert was selected Tuesday to be Marshall University’s 37th president.
Gilbert has been the provost and executive vice president of Mississippi State University since 2010. He was one of three candidates to make visits last week to both the Huntington and South Charleston campuses.
“It’s extremely exciting,” said Ginny Painter, Marshall’s vice president of communications. “It’s been 10 months during this transition period and I think everybody feels a real sense of purpose in moving forward.”
Marshall has been searching for a president since the late Dr. Stephen Kopp died of a heart attack in December 2014.
Painter said Gilbert plans to combine a lot of the successful initiatives that began with Dr. Kopp and also offer new insights that he brings from his work at Mississippi State.
“He is extraordinarily thoughtful,” she said about the characteristics Gilbert brings to his new role as president. “We’re hoping that we can get Dr. Gilbert and his wife Lee here to Huntington in the next week or so to do an official welcome.”
Gilbert and Denis Wiesenburg, a professor of marine science and a former provost at the University of Southern Mississippi, and Christopher Maples, president of the Oregon Institute of Technology, were the final three candidates for the position.
Gilbert is expected to join Marshall on January 1, 2016.