Dr. Dave Gesler - Faculty Athletics Representative - Staff Directory

Staff Directory

Dr. Dave Gesler

At Murray State

Dr. Dave Gesler is in his 16th year as Murray State Athletics Faculty Representative in the 2025-26 school year.
Since 2013, has served MSU as assistant and associate professor in the department of Organizational Communication.
Teaches classes in positive communication, ethical communication, research methods, public speaking and leadership communication.

Before MSU

In 1999, worked as a corporate trainer for a multi-national company called Franke Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of commercial kitchen equipment, employing over 4500 employees world-wide.
At Franke, helped establish a ground-up training package for Franke employees, developed various training and procedure manuals for the company, and also conducted various specialty training sessions on topics ranging from listening to conflict resolution and team building for assorted departments and for many of the U.S. Franke sites.
Awarded the “Graduate Teaching Associate of the year” for 2003 for the College of Communication and Information at the University of Tennessee.
His dissertation research was an empirical study which revolved around the notion of ethical leadership and communication competence, and was recognized as “Top Paper” for the Applied Communication Division of the Southern States Communication Association in 2005.

Personal

Born and raised in southern California.
Earned bachelor's degree in Rhetoric and Communication with a minor in Organizational Studies from the University of California, Davis in 1993.
Played football at UC Davis, where he was a member of the nationally ranked team as he played on the offensive line.
In 1996, he moved to Murray, Ky, where he earned his Master's degree in Organizational Communication from Murray State University in 1998.
During his early years at Murray State, he taught undergraduate communication classes as a Graduate Teaching Assistant, culminating in being named “GTA of the year” for 1997.
From 2000 to 2003, earned his PhD in Communication Studies, with a secondary emphasis in Statistics from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.
Father is daughters, Eleri, Gwyneth, and Eowyn, and son Sinjin.