Tobias Gibson

Biography:

Much of Dr. Gibson’s research is related to the presidency, the Supreme Court and security policy. His first book, Contextualizing Security: A Reader, co-edited with Kurt Jefferson, is scheduled to be published in the spring of 2022. He also has a forthcoming article, coauthored with Mark Boulton, titled “Stage Left and Right: Modeling Civil Discourse in the Classroom through Fictional Presidential Debates between FDR and Reagan" which will appear in Teaching History: A Journal of Methods.

Dr. Gibson’s recently published work includes: “Multiple Principals and the (Lack of) Intelligence Oversight,” in the National Security Law Journal; book chapters titled “U.S. Military Strategy and Arctic Climate Change,” in Environments of Security and "Overview of creating environmental agreements," in Sustainable Planet: Issues and Solutions for our Environment’s Future (which was co-authored with a former Westminster student).

In the classroom, he asks for excellence from his students. He often publishes with the best students at Westminster College, and has taken several students to professional conferences. Former students have gone on to political science Ph.D. programs at Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Missouri and Purdue University; and law school at Harvard University, Vanderbilt University, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Missouri, the University of Chicago, St. Louis University, and George Mason University—among many others. He has been recognized for his teaching by Alpha Chi, the Westminster College Education Association, Kappa Alpha and Kappa Alpha Theta. He was also named the 2011-2012 Social Science Division Junior Faculty Person of the Year.

Currently, Dr. Gibson is the Political Science Department Chair, the Security Studies Program Director, and the Coordinator of the Legal Careers Program. And, he is the faculty advisor for Phi Alpha Delta, Omicron Sigma Sigma, Pi Sigma Alpha, and the campus chapter of the John Quincy Adams Society.

Personal

When he moved to Fulton, it was the third time he moved to Missouri. Outside of family and academics, he has two loves: football and martial arts. He watches as many Nebraska games as he can each season. He has been a martial arts student for about sixteen years, primarily in the Filipino Martial Arts.