Dr. Thomas J. Gamble Biography
Dr. Thomas J. Gamble
President, Mercyhurst College
Erie, Pennsylvania
Thomas J. Gamble, Ph.D., became the 11th president of Mercyhurst College on March 1, 2006.
Prior to assuming this position, Dr. Gamble was vice president of academic affairs at Mercyhurst College and a tenured associate professor of criminal justice and psychology. He is the founder and former director of the Mercyhurst College Civic Institute. Dr. Gamble began teaching at Mercyhurst as an adjunct faculty member in 1985 and joined the full-time faculty in 1997.
Dr. Gamble earned a bachelor of arts in philosophy from Gannon University (magna cum laude) and a master of arts and doctorate in psychology from the Syracuse University and a doctorate in social psychology from the Maxwell School for Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse. He also completed postdoctoral studies in child psychology at Yale University.
Prior to joining the faculty at Mercyhurst College, Dr. Gamble was the executive director of the Erie County Office of Children & Youth Services. He has been a key team member in establishing several initiatives at Mercyhurst and in the broader community. These include: the emergency shelter program for abused and neglected children at the Edmund Thomas Center, The Erie County Collaborative Board for Children and Families, the Erie County Children's Advocacy Center, the interdisciplinary minor in the psychology of crime and justice at Mercyhurst College, the Erie County juvenile detention screening program, the Pennsylvania model of child abuse risk assessment, the revised organizational structure of academic affairs at Mercyhurst College including replacing seven divisions with five schools led by doctoral-level academic deans, and the creation of the first institutional research office at Mercyhurst College.
Dr. Gamble has done extensive research and has been published in the area of the application of biological and psychological perspectives to the development of delinquency in the context of broader social forces, issues of mental health, gender and race in juvenile detention populations, and applied social research especially in the area of child welfare and juvenile delinquency.
Dr. Gamble is an ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees of Mercyhurst College; he chairs the Mercyhurst College Council and the Mercyhurst College Deans' Council. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Mercyhurst Preparatory School, the Erie Rotary Club, the American Psychological Association, the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and the American Society of Criminology.
Abbreviated Chronology of Degrees and Appointments
| Assumes presidency | March 2006 |
| Appointed Vice President of Academic Affairs | July 2003 |
| Received Tenure from Mercyhurst Trustees | April 2003 |
| Full-time faculty appointment at Mercyhurst | September 1997 |
| Director Mercyhurst College Civic Institute | September 1997-July 2003 |
| Adjunct faculty at Mercyhurst College | September 1985-September 1997 |
| Erie County Children & Youth Services | 1984-1997 |
| Yale University Post-Doctoral Training | 1982-1984 |
| Syracuse University, PhD awarded | 1984 |
Official biography updated 3/7/06
