HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Under blue skies on the first day of fall, the new president of Marshall University was officially installed in the position he’s held since January during an investiture ceremony in Huntington.
“I’m honored to stand before you as the 37th president and I’m humbled by this occasion,” Dr. Jerry Gilbert said Thursday soon after being administered the oath.
“It’s not so much an occasion for me, but for the office of president of Marshall.”
Going forward, Gilbert said he wanted Marshall to be known as a “challenging university with high standards,” one that reflected the qualities of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall, the Cabell County institution’s namesake who was largely credited with establishing the Supreme Court’s role within the federal government.
Saturday, Sept. 24 marks 261 years since Justice Marshall was born in Germantown, Virginia.
Gilbert asked that his investiture ceremony be held as close as possible to that date.
“I think the legacy of John Marshall is significant and I want the university that is associated with him to be better known for carrying on the tradition of excellence that he established,” Gilbert said.
In his speech, Gilbert set a goal of growing enrollment at Marshall to more than 18,000 students within the next decade, promised zero tolerance for campus sexual assaults and pledged to foster an open, inclusive higher education community.
“An investiture is a turning point in the life of an institution,” said Gary White, former interim president for Marshall University.
White was named interim president following the death of Dr. Stephen Kopp in Dec. 2014 and served until Gilbert, who was hired in Oct. 2015, took over earlier this year.
Gilbert was previously the provost and executive vice president at Mississippi State University.
“I can tell you that I am strongly committed to carrying on the tradition of striving for excellence that Dr. Kopp established in his tenure and that was carried on by President Gary White,” Gilbert said.
During the hiring process, White said the goal was to find a president who could lead Marshall into the future.
“I stand before you here today to say that we were successful. We found the right person,” White said Thursday.
In addition to White, the speakers during Thursday’s investiture ceremony included Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, state Higher Education Chancellor Paul Hill, people who knew Gilbert prior to his hiring at Marshall and representatives of Marshall’s faculty and students.