R. Gerald Turner

Robert Gerald Turner (born November 25, 1945) is the President of Southern Methodist University (SMU) in Dallas, Texas. Previously he served as Chancellor of the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss").

R. Gerald Turner
10th President of Southern Methodist University
Assumed office
June 5, 1995
Preceded byA. Kenneth Pye
14th Chancellor of the University of Mississippi
In office
April 2, 1984 – 1995
Preceded byPorter Lee Fortune Jr.
Succeeded byRobert Khayat
Vice President of Executive Affairs University of Oklahoma
In office
1978–1984
Personal details
Born (1945-11-25) November 25, 1945
Spouse(s)Gail Turner
Children2 daughters
OccupationAcademic administrator
Known forPresident of Southern Methodist University

Early life and education

R. Gerald Turner was born in 1945 in New Boston, Texas.[1] He received an A.A. from Lubbock Christian College, and graduated from Abilene Christian University with a B.S. in Psychology in 1968. He then graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with an M.A. and a Ph.D..[2][3][4]

Career

From 1975 to 1979, Turner was a Professor at Pepperdine University at Malibu, California. He was the Vice President of the University of Oklahoma from 1979 to 1984.[2]

Turner served as the Chancellor of the University of Mississippi from 1984 to 1995.[5][6][4] At 38, Turner was considered among the youngest university presidents. While at Ole Miss, he fired Billy Brewer, the longtime popular football coach, due to allegations of recruiting violations.[4] Successful programs under Turner's leadership grew the school's endowment from $8 million to $64 million.[4]

Since 1995, Turner has served as the President of Southern Methodist University. He helped lead the school's efforts to attract the George W. Bush Presidential Center, to be located on the SMU campus. In 2016, he earned $3.3 million, and was the third-highest-paid of all U.S. private-university presidents. In 2008, he earned $2.7 million.[7][8]

Turner was co-Chair of the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics and Chair of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Subcommittee on Presidential Leadership of Internal and External Constituencies.[2][5] He serves on the boards of the Methodist Hospital Foundation and the Salvation Army of Dallas, and has served on the boards of United Way of Dallas, the First Broadcasting Corporation, J. C. Penney (where he was part of the critical decision to change J.C. Penney's century old sales and discount program), Kronos Worldwide, American Beacon Funds, California Federal Preferred Capital Corporation, American Advantage Funds, Skytel Communications, ChemFirst Inc, the ChemFirst Foundation, AMFM, the First Mississippi Corporation, etc.[2][5][6]

Personal life

Turner and his wife, Gail, a native of Graham, Texas, have two married daughters.[2] He is a member of the Churches of Christ.[4]

References
  1. Marquis Who's Who on the Web
  2. "R. Gerald Turner - SMU". www.smu.edu.
  3. "Home - Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics". Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics.
  4. "Dallas News".
  5. "Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al-Missned".
  6. "R. Gerald Turner: Executive Profile & Biography - Bloomberg". investing.businessweek.com.
  7. Staff Reports, 'SMU’s Gerald Turner Pulling In More Than $3.3M Annually', D Magazine, December 12, 2016
  8. Staff Reports, 'Vandy chancellor among top earners', The Tennessean, November 14, 2010
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