Helen Giles-Gee assumed the presidency of Keene State College on July 1, 2005. With over three decades of experience as a professor and administrator at public institutions of higher education, Dr. Giles-Gee served most recently as provost of Rowan University in New Jersey. She was responsible for the academic affairs division at Rowan, including the Graduate School and the Colleges of Business, Communication, Education, Engineering, Fine and Performing Arts, and Liberal Arts and Sciences. Other responsibilities included Information Resources, 19 centers and institutes, and the Rowan University campus in Camden, New Jersey.

Prior to her arrival at Rowan, Dr. Giles-Gee served as dean of the School of Professional Studies at the State University of New York at Cortland, as associate vice chancellor for faculty affairs and director of articulation at the University System of Maryland, as executive assistant to the president and professor of biology at Towson University, and as a tenured associate professor and chair of biology at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Giles-Gee received a bachelor of arts degree in psychobiology, a master of science degree in science education, and a Ph.D. with distinction in measurement techniques of experimental research from the University of Pennsylvania. She also earned a master of science degree in zoology from Rutgers University. She has earned scholarships and fellowships in support of her education and has been widely published during her career on issues facing higher education including urban revitalization, faculty workload, student retention, transfer articulation, standards, program review, K-16, and entrepreneurship.

Dr. Giles-Gee's appointment followed a national search after the retirement of Dr. Stanley J. Yarosewick, who had served as KSC's president since 1994. "Dr. Giles-Gee thoroughly impressed the search committee with her knowledge of higher education, her management style, her sense of community and good citizenship, and her ideas on how to build upon the fine work that has enhanced the reputation of Keene State College over the past decade," said Dr. Stephen Reno, chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire, of which KSC is a member.