Ed Gibson
associate professor
School of Public and International Affairs
Additional Roles:
director, Doctor of Public Administration program
Contact Information:
Phone: 410.837.6117
Email: egibson@ubalt.edu
Ph.D., Virginia Tech
M.B.A., University of Maryland, College Park
B.S., University of North Carolina
Ed Gibson's C.V. (.pdf)
Being a latecomer to teaching heightens my appreciation for the exchange of ideas in the classroom. I spent the early part of my career as a programmer, supervisor, and manager in information technology, working for EDS (remembered these days only for its founder, Ross Perot, who ran for president in 1992 and 1996).
Getting my MBA enabled me to swap COBOL (programming language) for spreadsheets by becoming a government contractor, where I consulted with federal agencies, chiefly the U.S. Courts, for more than a dozen years. Conducting cost-benefit analysis and developing programmatic and financial documents for government clients served as an entrée to bureaucratic life: engendering an enduring respect for public servants. They deal with profound deficits of resources and excesses of guidance, yet manage to further the public interest. Learning the conceptual language to analyze public and nonprofit missions and their political and organizational processes required a doctoral degree in public administration, which took 10 years. Definitely worth it, because of getting to teach at The University of Baltimore!
After obtaining my graduate education while working, UBalt’s mission always made perfect sense. The part-time student’s challenges are second nature. I love teaching, while remembering what it feels like from the other side, and do my best to keep the learning experience mutual, engaging and light. It’s an honor, as D.P.A. program director, to pick up where treasured colleagues—Drs. Patria de Lancer Julnes, George Julnes, and Aaron Wachhaus—left off. Because the only way to teach or lead others pursuing a research degree is as a fellow researcher, my two decades of scholarship on Social Security continue.
My wife and sweetheart of 40+ years and I have restored a century-old house in the Shenandoah Valley. Our son became a college academic advisor and success coach, following a half-dozen years of teaching English literature, and has published books of poetry and literary criticism.