Gibson, Siena president, to retire at end of school year

Siena College President Chris Gibson will retire at the end of this academic year. He shared the news with the Siena campus community on Sept. 6, the first day of classes for the 2022-23 academic year.

"While I've shared my intention to retire next summer after the completion of the academic year, there is still much to do between now and then,” Gibson said. “I am focused on leading Siena to provide a first-rate college experience, both in and beyond the classroom, and advancing and resourcing our strategic plan as we prepare our students to serve as leaders, inspired by Saint Francis of Assisi, to help make the world become more just, peaceful and humane."

Gibson was announced as the college’s president-elect - the first non-Friar to serve as permanent leader of Siena since the college’s founding in 1937 - on Feb. 14, 2020 and immediately began working in leading Siena’s COVID Task Force in March 2020. His five-year term officially began on July 1, 2020. Gibson, the college's 12th president, replaced interim president Margaret E. Madden, who took over in June 2019 after the sudden death of Brother Edward Coughlin, OFM.

“The entire Siena College community is grateful for the leadership that President Chris Gibson provides each day. The College has flourished under his leadership. Chris has masterfully led Siena during the pandemic and through the development of our new strategic plan,” said Thomas J. Baldwin Jr., Siena board chairman “The Board looks forward to working with him until his last day to lead Siena forward, and we have prudently begun to put in place plans to ensure a smooth transition and continued effectiveness of our mission. Siena is clearly on the rise. We look forward to the years to come serving our students in this important cause of educating and preparing future leaders.”

Gibson, a former three-term Republican Congressman from Kinderhook, is a decorated military veteran and alumni of Siena College, class of ’86. Prior to taking the job at Siena, Gibson was the Stanley Kaplan Distinguished Visiting professor of American Foreign Policy at Williams College. He served District NY-19 in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2011-17 and served as one of the co-chairs of the bi-partisan caucus “No Labels.” After graduating Siena, he served in the U.S. Army for 29 years where he rose to the rank of colonel and was awarded the Purple Heart, four Bronze Star Medals and two Legions of Merit.