MU Chancellor Names Gibler MU Budget Director

Associate Vice Provost for Extension Management will replace Tim Rooney, who will retire in December

October 31st, 2012

COLUMBIA, Mo. ­— Brady Deaton has announced that Associate Vice Provost for Extension Management Rhonda Gibler will replace Tim Rooney as MU’s director of budget, effective Jan. 1, 2013. Rooney announced in August that he will retire at the end of 2012.

“Rhonda has been with Mizzou for more than 19 years and has served on various system- and campus-wide committees dealing with budget issues as diverse as benefits, travel policy, grants implementation, fiscal planning and retirement plans,” Deaton said. “We are very fortunate that she possesses not only the budgetary and management skills, but that she also brings vast institutional knowledge that is invaluable for this position. We’re looking forward to working with her in this new capacity.”

As chief budget officer, Gibler will be responsible for overall planning of MU’s budget. She will work across MU’s departments and colleges/schools as well as coordinate with UM System administration to further the goals of appropriate budget management and fiscal responsibility. She will advise the chancellor and provost on resource allocations and provide assistance in long-term planning, resource allocations, and campus budget conditions and trends.

“Mizzou is an amazing place to work, and it’s great to follow someone like Tim Rooney who has done an admirable job with our budget through some very difficult years,” Gibler said. “The landscape of higher education is shifting in terms of funding. I will be working with the schools, colleges and administrative departments to understand their business models and how we can help make them financially successful. The financial strength of the university as a whole influences the individual units’ abilities to be strong. This means we need to understand their demands and adjust accordingly to benefit the entire university.”

As associate vice provost for Extension management, Gibler has been responsible for the overall administrative, financial, communications, computing and human resource functions. Recently, Gibler led a committee that reviewed revenue generation policy and created a three-year plan to investigate fee generation as a way to augment the Extension budget. Prior to her current appointment, Gibler also served as assistant vice provost and director of administrative management for MU Extension, a research analyst for the Missouri Consolidated Health Care Plan, and a customer service manager.

Gibler received her bachelor’s degree in mathematics and economics from Truman State University in May 1991 and received her master in economics and doctorate in human environmental sciences from MU in 1995 and 2006, respectively.

“I’m very honored and excited about this wonderful opportunity,” Gibler said. “I have been a member of the university community for a long time; this is an opportunity for me to give back to that community and hopefully make a difference on a broader level.”

Gibler was raised on a rural Missouri farm with six siblings. She and her husband, Kevin, have three children, Kelsie, Haylie and Kendall.