R. Gerald Turner Ph.D

R. Gerald Turner Ph.D General Information

Biography

Dr. R. Gerald Turner serves as President at Southern Methodist University. Dr. Turner serves as President at Southern Methodist University Endowment and Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education and Human Development. He also serves as an ex officio member of the Board of Trustees. As a President of Southern Methodist University since 1995, he is leading an era of unprecedented progress as SMU celebrates the centennial of its founding in 2011 and of its opening in 2015. Under his leadership, two major gift campaigns have provided funding for 643 new endowed scholarships, 50 new endowed academic positions, 104 academic program endowments, and 40 new or renovated facilities. SMU's current Second Century Campaign has raised more than $840 million to date, and a new goal of $1 billion has been set. Working with the SMU Board of Trustees, he led efforts to attract the George W. Bush Presidential Center, which opened on the SMU campus in May 2013. Beyond the campus, he has served on the boards of the American Council on Education and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and he co-chairs the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics. In Texas, he serves on the boards of the Methodist Hospital Foundation, the Salvation Army of Dallas, and two publicly traded companies. Before joining SMU, he was the chancellor of the University of Mississippi and served in administrative and teaching positions at the University of Oklahoma and Pepperdine University. A native of New Boston, Texas, he earned a B.S. degree in psychology from Abilene Christian University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in psychology from The University of Texas at Austin.