For six years, Gibson has led the University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College as dean.

Her home is still in Massachusetts, where she and husband, Roland, a retired school principal and consultant, are helping raise a 14-year-old grandson. They meet halfway for dinner some nights and, on weekends, do a lot of driving back and forth.

Her second home is in The Lofts at Bates Mill with two cats, space her husband jokingly calls her “work camp.”

When she initially took the new job, leaving the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where she’d worked in several different roles, Gibson figured she would be here three to four years.

The reasons she’s stayed mirror many of the aspects that drew her initially.

“The Lewiston-Auburn people — I love this region — were very interested in their own upward mobility and the development of their communities, so they really demanded this college,” Gibson said. “I could identify so much with that. It was people taking care of themselves, taking charge of who they are. Being in this position has been one of the richest educational experiences in my career, no question.”

Gibson grew up in Yazoo City, Miss., attending schools that separated white and black students. Her father hadn’t wanted to work on the family cotton farm, so he went to school to become a dentist, eventually joining the U.S. Air Force. 

“Segregation was hot and strong and it was tough,” she said. “My parents always told us, you take people one person at a time. Learn to know people and who they are. Always be the champion for people who are the underdog.”

Another message to their six children: “My parents just drilled into our heads, ‘You’re going to college. You’ll have a choice where you go.'”

“That’s the way you get out of poverty,” Gibson said. “That’s what we were in.”

She attended high school in Japan, graduated from Dover Air Force Base High School and attended Howard University for a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She eventually pursued a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling and a doctorate in educational administration.

Gibson, who has four children and three grandchildren, said she spends about 60 to 70 hours a week in her work as dean. A good chunk of that time is spent being active in the community, sitting in on a charter commission meeting or attending Chamber of Commerce events.

She said she can relate to her good friend Chip Morrison, the former Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce president who retired from the chamber last month but didn’t really retire — he’s got a full slate of work planned.

“Some people think if you’re in retirement age, that you should retire,” she said. “But if you have energy, you have ideas, you have commitments to move, you should.”

She said she’s excited about the new USM president and new initiatives for the college, but also figures she has “a couple more years, probably, maximum” before it’s time to move on.

“Many people think about change as negative; change is a constant,” Gibson said. “Maya Angelou said we have to pay the rent for our space in the world, so you have to do something for your contribution. Helping people get a leg up to improve themselves and their communities is what I think education is about. We help inspire them to look at the world in a broader way. It couldn’t be a better place to be.”

Know someone everyone knows? Contact staff writer Kathryn Skelton at 689-2844 or kskelton@sunjournal.com.