BIO

The Board of Regents unanimously appointed Dr. Joseph Shepard the 15th President of Western New Mexico University (WNMU) on April 27, 2011. Dr. Shepard assumed the office on July 5, 2011 and now leads the Silver City campus, as well as learning centers in Deming, Gallup, Lordsburg and Truth or Consequences.

Prior to arriving at WNMU, Dr. Shepard served over 15 years in senior level leadership positions at Florida Gulf Coast University.  Throughout his years at FGCU he held the positions of Chief Student Affairs Officer, Chief Business Officer, and Chief Financial Officer.  Among his many responsibilities, Dr. Shepard was one of the founding leaders in helping to build the State of Florida’s 10^th university.  When Dr. Shepard arrived at FGCU, there were no students, no classes, no athletics, no on-campus housing, no policies and no infrastructure. By Dr. Shepard’s departure in 2011, FGCU had grown to over 460 faculty with a total workforce of nearly 2,000 that served nearly 13,000 students.

Dr. Shepard has also remained active in the classroom and with research.  His teaching areas have been at both the graduate and undergraduate levels in quantitative methods, public finance and business leadership.  He has also taught internationally in Mexico.

Dr. Shepard earned his Ph.D. in Public Administration specializing in public finance from Florida International University. He earned a Master of Business Administration degree in Finance and Banking where he specialized in international finance from the University of North Texas and a Bachelor of Science in Math Education from Northern Arizona University.

He has been married to his wife, Marcela, for 21 years and has two children. He is fluent in Spanish and enjoys mountaineering, backpacking, canoeing, fishing, golfing, and racquetball.