President David L. Eisler

Biography

Dr. David L. Eisler has served as president of Ferris State University since July 2003. On campus Dr. Eisler has worked with faculty, staff and students to develop and articulate a vision that focuses Ferris State University as a Learning-Centered University. Under his leadership the University has embarked on an ambitious program of technology integration, classroom renovation, wireless networking, and cooperative programs with community colleges. These efforts have resulted in record enrollments for Ferris State University in Big Rapids and twenty-five locations throughout Michigan.

Within Michigan Dr. Eisler works actively on issues of higher education and economic development. He served on the Cherry Commission on Higher Education and Economic Growth. Governor Jennifer Granholm has appointed him to the Council of Labor and Economic Growth and the Midwestern Higher Education Compact, and he currently serves on the executive committee of both organizations. An advocate for the arts, he also serves on the Board of ArtServe Michigan.

President Eisler has spoken widely and published papers on the integration of technology in higher education. As an academic leader, President Eisler believes strongly in the value of excellence in undergraduate education. He is committed to ensuring the integrity of the college experience based upon an education that develops mature communication and quantitative skills, including a knowledge core that has both breadth and depth, which creates a pattern of intellectual rigor and provides the foundation for lifelong learning.

Throughout his career, Dr. Eisler has been heavily involved in community service and he believes strongly that service is an important component of the educational experience. With the American Association of State College and Universities and the New York Times, he helped create the American Democracy Project. He currently serves on the Board of the ConnectMichigan Alliance, which brings together the efforts of the Michigan Nonprofit Association, Michigan Community Service Commission, Volunteer Centers of Michigan, and the Michigan Campus Compact.

President Eisler earned both bachelor and doctoral degrees in Clarinet Performance at the University of Michigan and his master's degree from Yale University. He and his wife Patsy, a native of South Haven, Michigan, have two daughters, Heather, a fifth year Ph.D. student in Molecular Biology at the University of Notre Dame, and Lindsay, a first-year medical resident in otorhinolaryngology.

Before joining Ferris State University, Dr. Eisler served as Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. During his tenure at Weber State, which began in 1996, Dr. Eisler helped reverse that school's trend of declining enrollment with a growth in the student body from 13,900 to 18,100. He also created WSU Online, selected by the University Continuing Education Association as Outstanding Distance Education Program of the Year in 1998. He began his academic career as a music instructor at Troy State University in Troy, Ala., in the mid-1970s, rising to the position of assistant dean of the School of Fine Arts. Dr. Eisler was dean of the College of Fine Arts at Eastern New Mexico University in Portales, N.M., from 1990 to 1996.

With over thirty years of experience at regional universities, Dr. Eisler believes in the importance of higher education as a catalyst for economic development and as a gateway for individual growth, development, and success. He embraces strongly Ferris State University's commitment to students, innovative career-based education, and service to community, region, and Michigan.

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