Marshall Names Gilbert New President

The Marshall University Board of Governors today named Mississippi State University Provost Jerome A. “Jerry” Gilbert the 37th president of Marshall University. Gilbert will assume the presidency in January.

Earlier this month, the Presidential Search Committee announced Gilbert as one of three finalists for the position following a national search. All three candidates participated in open forums last week with students, faculty, staff and members of the community, and the decision to hire Gilbert was made yesterday by the Board of Governors in executive session.

Gilbert’s appointment and contract will require final approval from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.

A Mississippi native with a background in biomedical engineering, Gilbert has served since 2010 as provost and executive vice president of Mississippi State. Prior to that, he was the university’s associate provost and associate vice president for academic affairs for six years. He has held various administrative and faculty positions at Mississippi State, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University.

He has a bachelor’s degree in biological engineering from Mississippi State and a doctorate in biomedical engineering from Duke University. An event is being planned to introduce Gilbert to the community.