Management Expert Dr. Shanan Gwaltney Gibson Joins Embry-Riddle as Dean of the Renowned David B. O’Maley College of Business

Dr. Shanan Gwaltney Gibson, a highly regarded scholar with deep expertise related to job analysis, entrepreneurship and small business development, has been named dean of the David B. O’Maley College of Business at the world’s leading aviation and aerospace institution, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Gibson, who currently serves as dean and professor of Management within the College of Business at Texas A&M University-Commerce, will begin her tenure at Embry-Riddle’s Daytona Beach Campus in April 2020. She was selected from a pool of outstanding candidates following a careful, competitive national process.

Embry-Riddle President P. Barry Butler commended Gibson’s track record of scholarly achievement, teaching excellence, and service to the academic community. “Dr. Gibson’s work, which focuses on collaborating with business to improve hiring, training and performance management, will serve Embry-Riddle and its students well,” Butler said. “In particular, her insights will be key to expanding our industry partnerships, which provide real-world business and educational opportunities for students. I look forward to watching her vision and dedication in action at Embry-Riddle.”

University Provost Lon Moeller added that “Gibson’s recognized skill as an exceptional teacher is in perfect alignment with Embry-Riddle’s mission to prepare students for productive careers and leadership roles in business, government agencies and the military.”

Butler and Moeller both extended their sincere thanks to outgoing Dean Dr. Michael J. Williams, who will return to his faculty position at Embry-Riddle after he completes a scheduled sabbatical. “Mike has served Embry-Riddle faithfully and well, and he is beloved by his students and colleagues,” Moeller said. “We are fortunate to have an educator and mentor of his caliber on our faculty.”

Gibson’s diverse teaching experience encompasses Human Resources Management and Organizational Behavior, Entrepreneurship Business Planning, Comparative Management, Organizational Development and Change, and Fundamentals of Management. “I’m delighted and honored to join the David B. O’Maley College of Business at Embry-Riddle,” she said. “I love to teach, face to face or online, and traditional as well as non-traditional students. I do not view teaching as an opportunity to impart knowledge to those who are lacking it. Rather, teaching is about cultivating the curiosity of students and then providing them with opportunities to learn. I want them to learn today and lead tomorrow.”

Gibson holds a master’s and a Ph.D. in Industrial and Organizational Psychology from Virginia Tech, and she has authored a lengthy list of books and academic journal publications. At Texas A&M University-Commerce since 2017, Gibson’s accomplishments include opening a Center for Excellence, successful international reaccreditation, and cultivating her college’s largest single gift in history. Earlier, Gibson served as associate dean for student and faculty development at the College of Business at East Carolina University (2012-2017). She has held faculty positions in Management as well as Psychology.

Co-author of the book, The Handbook of Work Analysis: Methods, Systems, Applications and Science of Work Measurement in Organizations, Gibson has received five teaching awards. These include a Board of Governor’s teaching award, the Max Ray Joyner Award for Faculty Service through Continuing Education, the Robert L. Jones University Alumni Award for Outstanding Teaching, a College of Business Teaching Fellowship, and a College of Business Commerce Club New Faculty Teaching Award.

Gibson is married to Embry-Riddle alumnus Dr. James R. Gibson, Lt. Col., U.S. Marine Corps, Retired, who is an experimental test pilot and program manager for Bell Helicopter Textron. They have two admittedly spoiled poodles, DiffyQ and Trigonometry.

Posted In: Business | Institutional News