John Manuel Gandy was appointed the third president of the Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute, after the death of James Hugo Johnston in 1914. His teaching career began in Stone County Mississippi, and he also taught briefly in Hanson, Oklahoma before attending Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee. While a student at Fisk he taught at various schools in Tennessee and Kentucky. In 1898 he was appointed to the position of professor of Greek and Latin at Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute, now (Virginia State University). When the College program was terminated in 1902 by the State he continued as professor of education until he was appointed president of the University in 1914.

As president he oversaw the schools development which included becoming the "Land Grant College" for blacks in Virginia in 1920. He also worked to have the college department returned to the University in 1923. Gandy also saw the renaming of the V N and II to Virginia State College for Negroes and the establishment of the graduate school 1937. The return of the college department in 1923 and the renaming of the V.N. and I.I. to Virginia State College for Negroes in1930 and the establishment of the graduate school in 1937.

While President of the University, John Gandy was very active in a number of organizations. A few of the organizations Mr. Gandy was involved with are as follows: he was President of the Association of Presidents of Negro Land Grant Colleges, President of the Virginia State Teachers Association, and President of the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools. He was also a member of several boards and a member of the Board of Trustees of Virginia Union University in Richmond, Virginia, and on the board of the "Negro Organizational."

He served as President of Virginia State University until he retired in 1943 and as President Emeritus until his death in 1947.