Dr. Sylvia Gist is proud to be an alumnus of Chicago State University.  She received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Education and Master of Science Degree in Technology and Education from CSU.  She received her Doctor of Philosophy Degree in History of Education from the University of Chicago. 

Prior to working in education, Dr. Gist was a commissioned officer in the U. S, Air Force, serving  as a transportation management officer. She started her education work experience as a nationally certified secondary school teacher at Clemente High School in Chicago. Upon leaving Chicago Public Schools, she joined the faculty in the Department of Technology and Education at CSU. 

For a short time, Dr. Gist left CSU and worked in Alabama at Bessemer State Technical College. She also served as the Director of the Entrepreneurship Center at Alcorn State University in Mississippi.  She returned to CSU,  once again joining the faculty in the Department of Technology and Education.  For more than a decade, she served as faculty advisor for the Future Teachers Organization.  She became department chair of Technology and Education in 2001 and served until she became Dean of the College of Education in August 2008.

She is no stranger in either the theoretical or practical worlds.  In addition to teaching history and philosophy of education and educational research courses, she has taught a number of technical courses, including entrepreneurship, business management, automotive repair, electronics, Web page design and computer networking.  One of her goals as Dean of the College of Education is to be instrumental in affording every student the educational access and opportunity that both Chicago State University and the University of Chicago afforded her.

Local, state and national organizations frequently request her services to present on-site technology-related workshops to educators and employees. Her research interests include historical nature of equal access to education, educating minorities in urban and rural America, educational assessment and strategies for effecting change in educational organizations. She spends her spare time updating her landmark book, titled Educating a Southern Rural Community: A History of Schooling in Holmes County, Mississippi: 1870 to 1993, which was first published in 1995. Her goal is to extend the period covered in this scholarly historical publication into the current century.