Gilda Gisela Gely, PhD serves as Provost and Executive Vice President for Academics at Davenport University since 2019. She has an extensive career in higher education. Prior to joining DU, Dr. Gely served as Provost Cambridge College in Boston, MA. She also served as executive vice president and provost at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and as provost and executive vice president at Grand Rapids Community College (GRCC). Additionally, Dr. Gely served as interim dean of academic affairs at the University of Puerto Rico, Humacao and has held positions as the vice chancellor and director of the languages department at the Universidad del Este, Carolina in Puerto Rico.
Dr. Gely has also held numerous leadership roles within the community, including sitting on the board of the Grand Rapids Public Museum, the Board of Art and Museum Commissioners for the City of Grand Rapids, WMCAT, and the World Affairs Council. Her many accolades include being awarded the Distinguished Woman in Higher Education Leadership Award by the Michigan ACE Network in 2011.
Dr. Gely is from Puerto Rico, and she earned her doctorate in Spanish from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a master’s in Spanish from Middlebury College, and a bachelor’s in broadcasting and Spanish from Kansas State University.
