Don Gehring is Professor Emeritus of Higher Education and past Director of the Higher Education Administration Doctoral Program at Bowling Green State University. He has had extensive experience in student affairs administration and college teaching.
Don began his professional career at Emory University in Atlanta after earning his bachelor's degree in Industrial Management at Georgia Institute of Technology and serving two years in the U.S. Navy in the Western Pacific. While at Emory, Don served as Residence Counselor, Supervisor of Student Activities and Alumni Center Director, Supervisor of Men's Housing and Assistant to the Dean of Men. After earning an M.Ed. in Mathematics Education from Emory, Don assumed the position as the First Director of Housing at West Georgia College. After three years in that position, Don left to pursue his doctorate in Higher Education at the University of Georgia. He was the first graduate of that program. In 1971 Don became the Dean of Student Development at Mars Hill College where he served for seven years before being appointed as Associate Professor at the University of Louisville.
Don has earned distinction as a teacher, being cited for both innovation in teaching (Metroversity Grawmeyer Award finalist), and by being nominated by his peers and students in the School of Education at the University of Louisville as the 1982 nominee for the University Distinguished Teaching Award. He was also an Alumni Association finalist for the Master Teacher award at Bowling Green State University. His publications are found in The Journal of College and University Student Housing; NASPA Journal; Personnel and Guidance Journal; The Dental Educator; Surgery; Programming; and The Journal of College Student Personnel. He is the Co-Editor of The College Student and the Courts, Co-Author of Alcohol on Campus and has also contributed chapters on legal issues to a number of other books. He is the founder and first President of the Association for Student Judicial Affairs (ASJA).
In April 1985 he was presented the NASPA Award for Outstanding Contribution to Literature or Research. In 1990 NASPA awarded Don the Robert H. Shaffer Award for Excellence as a Graduate Faculty Member. He was the first person in NASPA history to receive both of these awards. In 1987 he was honored by the Southern Association for College Student Affairs for Outstanding Contribution to Student Affairs in Higher Education as the recipient of the Melvene Draheim Hardee Award. The Association of College and University Housing Officers-International bestowed on Don their Distinguished Service Award in 1989. The American College Personnel Association elected Don to Senior Scholar status in 1992.
Don is married to Dr. Elizabeth Groover Gehring and they have two children.
