June 11, 2015
Gibson Elected President of SEDSI
Dr. Shanan Gibson, associate dean for student and faculty development
in the College of Business,has been named president of the Southeast Decision Sciences Institute,a multidisciplinary international association dedicated to advancing knowledge and improving instruction in all business and related disciplines. Her term began February 23, 2015.
Dr. Shanan Gibson
Gibson said, “I first attended the SEDSI conference in the spring of 2004; at that time there were several MGMT faculty who were highly engaged with the organization and as they promised, I found the people at SEDSI to be highly collegial, offering substantive feedback on my early research, and welcoming to people from multiple academic disciplines. I was hooked and have been back every year since!”
Gibson has been involved with SEDSI leadership since 2004, when she helped to review conference submissions and served as a discussant in a session. In 2007, she was asked to serve as a “track chair,” and she served in this capacity for several years. In 2012, she was named SEDSI program chair-elect, followed by program chair in 2013, president-elect in 2014, and then president effective February 2015. She will also serve as a member of the SEDSI Council in the two years following her presidency.
“While I know that some faculty (and administrators) question the ROI of regional conferences, I believe that SEDSI (and a couple of others) has served as the backdrop against which I have matured in academia,” Gibson said. “Regional conferences have provided me with invaluable research feedback, built my network of colleagues, and given me valuable leadership experiences. They have also opened doors within the much larger international parent organizations; because of my regional efforts I have been identified for leadership positions at what will be a much more visible and prestigious level.