About

Antoine M. Garibaldi, PhD, is president emeritus and distinguished university professor of University of Detroit Mercy, where he served for over eleven years as the 25th and first lay president. He also served as the sixth president of Gannon University for ten years. Garibaldi was the first African American president of both universities, and at Detroit Mercy he became the first publicly acknowledged African American president of the United States’ 27 Jesuit universities since 1789.

During his tenure, he strengthened both universities’ financial position, elevated their academic rankings, and significantly increased enrollment, retention, and graduation rates. He raised more than $215 million at Detroit Mercy, exceeded a historic $100 million campaign by $14.6 million, and nearly quadrupled its endowment to $100 million. Additionally, he oversaw the investment of more than $82 million into renovations, new construction and the purchase of a fourth campus in Novi, Michigan. Similarly at Gannon, Garibaldi raised a record-breaking $40 million, doubled the endowment, and constructed, acquired, and renovated more than two dozen campus buildings. In 2020, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) awarded Detroit Mercy one of only three Educational Fundraising Awards in Overall Performance for its “exceptional fundraising over the previous three years.” In his final year at Detroit Mercy, Garibaldi raised a record $20.2 million, the largest amount ever raised from alumni and friends in the university’s 143 years.

Prior to his presidencies, Garibaldi served as the first provost and chief academic officer at Howard University, his alma mater, as well as serving as Xavier University of Louisiana’s first lay vice president for academic affairs, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and Education Department chairman. He was also a senior fellow at the Educational Testing Service, an Institute for Educational Leadership Educational Policy Fellow, and a research associate in the Postsecondary Organization and Management Studies Program at the U.S. Department of Education’s National Institute of Education (NIE). At NIE, he was a member of the staff of the National Commission on Excellence in Education, which produced the landmark report A Nation at Risk. An educational psychologist, Garibaldi has authored more than eleven books and 100 scholarly articles and chapters; he has also served as an expert witness in the Alabama and Mississippi higher education desegregation cases. He is an elected fellow of the American Educational Research Association, the American Psychological Association, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Garibaldi has nearly four decades of trustee experience serving on the boards of Georgetown University, Seton Hall University, University of St. Thomas (MN), and Wheeling Jesuit University. He has also been a board member and held leadership roles on numerous national higher education boards, including the American Association for Higher Education and Council of Independent Colleges (as chair), the American Council on Education, the Association of Governing Boards’ Council of Presidents, the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (as secretary), the National Association of College and University Business Officers, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, and others. In Detroit, Garibaldi has served on more than a dozen civic, community, and education boards. He is also the founding chair of Live6 Alliance, an economic development organization established by him and The Kresge Foundation in 2015, the immediate past chair of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau (Visit Detroit), and a member of the board of Invest Detroit.

Professional Credentials

A native of New Orleans, Garibaldi received his BA magna cum laude in sociology from Howard University and PhD in educational psychology from the University of Minnesota. He has received distinguished alumni awards from his alma maters and four honorary doctorates from Gannon University, Our Lady of Holy Cross College, Seton Hall University, and University of St. Thomas (MN).