Joseph Shepard, Ph.D.

Dr. Joseph Shepard is the President of Western New Mexico University (WNMU), a Hispanic-serving university where one out of two students is first generational, and one out of two students is nontraditional. He has served in this position since 2011. Before joining WNMU, Dr. Shepard served for more than 15 years in senior-level leadership positions at Florida Gulf Coast University, where he held the positions of Chief Student Affairs Officer, Chief Business Officer, and Chief Financial Officer. Dr. Shepard was also one of the founding leaders who helped to build FGCU, Florida’s tenth public university. During Dr. Shepard’s tenure, FGCU grew to more than 460 faculty members serving 13,000 students, with a total workforce of nearly 2,000.

Dr. Shepard continues to pursue research and remains active in the classroom. He has taught courses in quantitative methods, public finance, and business leadership at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. He also taught fifth-grade math at the Colegio Americano de Torreón in Mexico. Dr. Shepard serves as the chairperson of the Council of University Presidents, an association that advocates for all seven public universities in New Mexico.

Dr. Shepard earned his PhD in public administration, specializing in public finance, from Florida International University. He earned a master of business administration degree in finance and banking from the University of North Texas, where he specialized in international finance, and a bachelor of science degree in math education from Northern Arizona University.

He is fluent in Spanish and enjoys mountaineering, backpacking, canoeing, fishing, golfing, and racquetball.