Samuel W. Oliver

Samuel W. "Dub" Oliver was elected as Union's 16th president in 2014.

Under his leadership, Union began and completed construction of The Logos, a new 54,000-square-foot library that opened in November 2015. The three-story facility is a state-of-the-art academic resource center for the university featuring expanded space for library holdings, study and meeting rooms, the Modero coffee shop, administration offices and archives. In 2019, Oliver led Union to merge with the Memphis Center for Urban and Theological Studies (now the Memphis College for Urban and Theological Studies).

Oliver led Union in 2015 to adopt "United in Spirit. Grounded in Truth." - a strategic plan to guide the work of the university over the next five years. The plan emphasizes seven strategic themes: bearing witness to the transforming power of the gospel of Jesus Christ, expanding enrollment across the university, enhancing operational effectiveness and efficiency to advance the mission, revising the liberal arts core curriculum, supporting meaningful research among faculty and students, developing leaders for the future and bolstering student life and building community.

Also under Oliver's leadership, Union launched the EDGE program for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities and collaborated with five other local educational institutions to start Mentor U, a mentoring program for area sixth graders. Oliver has also been active in the Jackson community, especially in the area of racial reconciliation.

A native of San Antonio, Texas, Oliver completed a Bachelor of Science degree in education from Baylor University and a Master of Science degree in educational psychology and a Doctor of Philosophy in educational administration from Texas A&M.

He previously served as president of East Texas Baptist University and in a variety of positions at Baylor, including director of student activities, associate dean for campus life, dean for student development and vice president for student life.

While at Baylor, Oliver also served as a visiting professor in the Hankamer School of Business, an adjunct professor in the School of Education and interim university chaplain. He served in the U.S. Air Force in the late 1980s at Carswell Air Force Base in Texas.