The Presidential Search Committee and Board of Trustees have unanimously selected Dr. Elizabeth Davis, a longtime administrator at Baylor University, to serve as the 12th President of Furman University, which will make her the first female president in the university’s more than 187 year history.
Davis currently serves as the Executive Vice President and Provost of Baylor University, a private Baptist university in Waco, Texas, and will step into her role as Furman’s president on July 1.
Davis is a graduate of Baylor and has her doctorate in accounting from Duke University. She has served as an administrator and professor of accounting at Baylor for more than two decades, first joining the faculty in 1992.
In addition to serving as Baylor’s chief academic officer, Davis has served as Baylor’s vice provost for financial and academic administration and as an associate dean for undergraduate business programs.
As Baylor’s chief academic officer, Davis has managed an Academic Affairs budget of $235 million and a faculty of more than 935 members. She also oversees Baylor’s eleven schools and colleges and is the first woman to serve as provost in the university’s history, according to her biography on Baylor’s website.
Brian Boda, the student representative on the Presidential Search Committee, announced Davis’s presidency in an email sent to students at midnight on Thursday and said Davis had impressed the search committee from the beginning with her warmth, intellect, and understanding of how universities work.
“The first time we had the opportunity to talk to her, she just blew away the entire room,” he said.
Boda said that Davis would bring leadership and business acumen to the role of president, noting that Davis led the most recent strategic vision process for Baylor. He added that the search committee admired Davis’s commitment to the liberal arts.
“Coming from a liberal arts institution, she was such a clear advocate for the value of liberal arts and science education,” Boda said.
Davis is married to Dr. Charles Davis, the Walter Plumhoff Professor of Accounting at Baylor, and the couple have two children: Chad, a student at Wake Forest University, and Claire, who is in high school.
The university will officially introduce Davis at a press conference scheduled for Thursday at 11 a.m. in the Watkins Room. A student reception to welcome Davis is also scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in the Watkins Room.
