Biography of Dr. Colleen Hester

Colleen Hester, B.A., M.A., Ph.D., was elected the 15th president of MacMurray College on May 3, 2007 by a unanimous vote of the College’s Board of Trustees. President Hester was vice president of strategic planning, institutional research and evaluation at the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas where she worked with academic and non-academic units on strategic planning, institutional effectiveness, outcomes assessment, institutional research, evaluation, and accreditation. She has extensive experience in academic affairs, student affairs, and institutional advancement.

She was director of the counseling, testing and career services at the University, served as chair of the psychology department and attained tenure and rank as full professorship. She was chair of the University’s Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, held the Cullen-Mitchell Chair in psychology, was elected by the faculty as Chair of the Faculty Senate and served as assistant to the president for institutional advancement. Interested in applied professional ethics, Dr. Hester was the founding chair of the University’s Human Subjects Committee. She provided leadership in advancing undergraduate research and student scholarship, was the school’s chief accreditation officer, and was twice named the University of St. Thomas’ Professor of the Year. While in Texas Dr. Hester was a licensed psychologist, had an active practice, and provided service to the American Psychological Association, the Texas State Board of Examiners, the Mental Health Association, and other organizations. Dr. Hester has published widely and was recipient of the 1989 Isabel Briggs Myers Memorial Research Award, awarded annually in international competition for the best study in psychological type research. She received a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia, a Master of Arts in counseling psychology from Southeast Missouri State University, and a Bachelor’s in philosophy from Murray State University in Kentucky.

President Colleen Hester was born in northern Ohio and is happily married to Dr. Jerry Osborne, a psychologist and a former vice chancellor and director of counseling and testing at the University of Houston, where he held rank in the departments of Psychology, Education and Technology. They have twin sons and a beautiful daughter-in-law, Kris Osborne, Kurt Osborne, and Kurt's wife Dana Stone Osborne. Scooter Hester-Osborne, their Yorkipoo dog is a native Highlander, born in Highlands, Texas and a happy Jacksonville citizen, with Drs. Hester and Osborne.