During her over 35 years in higher education, Dr. Marie Foster Gnage gained experience in leadership, strategic planning, governance, academic program planning and development, student success, accreditation, institutional effectiveness and development. Dr. Gnage retired in 2021, after a seven- year tenure at Florida State College at Jacksonville (Downtown Campus President and Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness and Advancement). Before joining the leadership team at FSCJ, Dr. Gnage served as President of West Virginia University at Parkersburg (2004-2014) and was honored as President Emerita by the Board.
Prior to assuming the presidency of WVU Parkersburg, Dr. Gnage served in leadership roles at Broward Community College (FL), Central Florida Community College, Pima Community College (AZ), Raritan Valley Community College (NJ). Dr. Gnage was an American Council on Education (ACE) Fellow (1990-1991. Also, she was an Assistant Professor of English at Florida A&M University in Tallahassee, and an instructor at Alcorn State University. She has been a leadership coach for Achieving the Dream for the past few years.
Dr. Gnage’s national board, commission, and advisory committee service has included American Association of Community Colleges Board of Directors (Chair), the American Council on Education (ACE) Board of Directors, ACE’s Women’s Network Executive Board (Chair), AACC's 21st Century Commission on the Future of Community Colleges, Campus Compact Board of Directors, and the College Board Community College Advisory Panel. She has continued her practice of local involvement. Presently, she serves as Past President of the Rotary Club of Jacksonville, and on the boards of Florida Community Hospice and Palliative Care (NE Florida) and the Library Foundation of Jacksonville.
In addition to numerous articles on consumer education as editor/ publisher of a newspaper for senior citizens and a newsletter for the general public, Dr. Gnage’s publications include “Voice, Mind, Self: Mother and Daughter Relationships in Amy Tan’s Fiction,” in Women of Color, UP Press (Fall 1996), A Bio-bibliography of Southern Black Creative Writers, 1829 – 1953, Greenwood Press, Inc., (1988), “Reconfiguring Self: A Matter of Place in Selected Novels by Paul Marshall,” in Middle Passages and the Healing Place of History: Migration and Identity in Black Women’s Literature, The Ohio University Press (2006), and “Hiring for Student Success,” (co-author) in Hiring the Next Generation of Faculty, Jossey-Bass (2010). She has made presentations at numerous leadership workshops, institutes, and conferences.
Dr. Gnage was presented with the Empowerment Inspiration Award given by the West Virginia Minority Business Development Center; the Women of Excellence Award for Trail Blazing awarded by Altrusa International, Inc.; the Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction presented by Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society of the Two-Year College; and Phi Theta Kappa’s Michael Bennett Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2013, Gnage was named State Citizen of the Year by the West Virginia Elks Association. She received the Excellence in Board Service award from the Florida ACE Women’s Network, 2021 and the Network’s Pioneer Award,2023. In recognition of her leadership and service and her commitment to the community college mission, she was inducted into the American Association of Community Colleges Leadership Hall of Fame, 2023.
Dr. Marie Foster Gnage has a bachelor's degree in English from Alcorn State University, Lorman, Mississippi; a master's degree in English from the University of Southwestern Louisiana, and a doctorate in English (American Literature) from the Florida State University. She is married to Dr. David Gnage, Retired Chancellor for Penn State Mont Alto; they have a blended family of four children and six grandchildren.
