Ronald R. Thomas Explained

Ronald Thomas
Office:13th President of the University of Puget Sound
Term Start:July 16, 2003
Term End:June 30, 2016
Successor:Isiaah Crawford
Birth Date:29 January 1949
Birth Place:Orange, New Jersey, U.S.
Death Place:Vashon Island, Washington, U.S.
Education:Wheaton College (BA)
Brandeis University (MA, PhD)

Ronald R. Thomas (January 29, 1949[1] – April 17, 2023) was an American academic administrator who served as the 13th president of the University of Puget Sound. He held faculty and administrative appointments at University of Chicago, Harvard University, Trinity College, and the University of Puget Sound.

Early life and education

Thomas was born in Orange, New Jersey, to Doris R. and Robert L. Thomas. His mother was an elementary school teacher and his father worked in accounting and administration at Monmouth University.[2] Thomas grew up in the Ocean Grove section of Neptune Township, New Jersey and graduated from Neptune High School in 1967. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature (magna cum laude) from Wheaton College (1971) and a Master of Arts (1978) and PhD (1983) in English and American literature from Brandeis University.[3]

Career

After graduating from college, Thomas moved to Boston to join Clear Light Productions as a film and media producer. In 1982, he was appointed assistant professor of English at the University of Chicago where he remained until 1990. Thomas then returned to the East Coast to serve as professor and chair in the English Department at Trinity College.

Thomas was named Andrew W. Mellon Faculty Fellow in the Humanities at Harvard University in 1991 and 1992, taking a leave from Trinity to begin research on his second book project, Detective Fiction and the Rise of Forensic Science. Thomas was appointed college vice president and chief of staff at Trinity in 1998, overseeing the implementation of Trinity’s campus master plan and its nationally recognized engagement with the community.[4] He was chosen as Trinity’s interim president in 2001 and 2002.

University of Puget Sound

Thomas served as the thirteenth president of the University of Puget Sound from July 16, 2003, to June 30, 2016. Major projects during his tenure included a 20-year campus master plan; a strategic plan of action that positioned the university as a national leader in liberal arts education focusing on civic engagement and innovation; and an ambitious comprehensive capital campaign.[5] [6]

Thomas also led new enrollment partnerships with the Tacoma Public Schools[7] [8] and the Posse Foundation to expand the university’s commitment to diversity, equity, and access.[9]

Under Thomas’s leadership, Puget Sound was included in the guide Colleges That Change Lives, which singles out Puget Sound for the transformational effects that its dedicated faculty, innovative curriculum, and engaging community have on the lives of students and the accomplishments of graduates.[10]

Students at the University of Puget Sound called him "RonThom."[11] [12]

In 2017, following his presidency, Thomas helped form Reinstitute, a group that works with campus leaders “to deepen the understanding of the fundamental challenges and transformations facing higher education and to implement mission-based action plans in response to them.”[13] Thomas also served on the governing boards of the College of Idaho[14] and Vashon Center for the Arts in Washington State.[15]

Scholarship

Much of Thomas’s scholarly work focuses on the role of the novel, and the interplay between fiction and reality, during the period stretching roughly from the Victorian Age through Modernity. For instance, Thomas “helped to pioneer a tradition of reading nineteenth-century literary realism... alongside and through photographic innovation,”[16] and he “used the analogy of the body to examine the image of the detective’s city [in literature] as a closed system.”[17]

Personal life and death

Ron Thomas married Mary Domingo Thomas on June 15, 1991, at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy. The couple met at Trinity, where Mary served as dean of students and lecturer in Classics.[18]

Thomas died on April 17, 2023, at the age of 74.[19]

Published books

Thomas published two chapters of a forthcoming book titled Moving Pictures and Telling Stories: Specters of the Novel on Film.[26] [27] The project investigates the shifting conceptions of persons in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century fiction in relation to the invention of cinema.

Honors

Thomas was twice awarded honorary doctorates: a doctor of humane letters, honoris causa, from Trinity College in 2002,[28] and another from the University of Portland in 2016,[29] both for outstanding contributions to scholarship and teaching and for national leadership in higher education and public service.

In 2016 the University of Puget Sound Board of Trustees conferred the name “Thomas Hall” on the campus’s newest building, honoring Ron and Mary Thomas for their “exceptional leadership and for the landmark transformations made at the college during their 13 years of service.”[30]

Additional awards

Notes and References

  1. https://id.oclc.org/worldcat/entity/E39PCjBkG69rQKjdrjRkBVQkTb.html
  2. Web site: Obituary of Robert L. Thomas. Legacy.com. February 21, 2021. April 18, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230418153342/https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/app/name/robert-thomas-obituary?id=22511966. live.
  3. Web site: Retiring UPS President Ron Thomas offers a few parting thoughts. The News Tribune. March 13, 2016. C.R. Roberts. February 22, 2021. May 5, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210505183538/https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/education/article65679487.html. live.
  4. Web site: Trinity Official Takes New Job. February 8, 2003. Hartford Courant. February 21, 2021. April 18, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230418153454/https://www.courant.com/2003/02/08/trinity-official-takes-new-job/. live.
  5. Web site: University of Puget Sound president to end his tenure next year. Leah Todd. Seattle Times. May 18, 2015. February 22, 2021. February 1, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200201074738/https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/education/university-of-puget-sound-president-to-end-his-tenure-next-year/. live.
  6. Web site: Ronald R. Thomas, President Emeritus. February 21, 2021. January 16, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210116065653/https://www.pugetsound.edu/about/office-of-the-president/past-presidents/ronald-r-thomas/. live.
  7. Web site: Tacoma university offers more financial help to local students. Seattle Times. Katherine Long. September 29, 2014. February 21, 2021.
  8. Web site: UPS announces financial aid package for Tacoma Public Schools graduates. Debbie Cafazzo. Tacoma News Tribune. September 21, 2014. February 22, 2021.
  9. Web site: Universities of Michigan & Puget Sound Join Posse. Spring 2015. February 21, 2021. May 6, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190506140430/https://www.possefoundation.org/news-and-events/universities-of-michigan-puget-sound-join-posse. live.
  10. Web site: Colleges That Change Lives: University of Puget Sound. February 21, 2021. May 5, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210505202240/https://ctcl.org/university-of-puget-sound/. live.
  11. Web site: Meet University of Puget Sound's New President. Lauren Foster. South Sound Magazine. June 3, 2016. February 22, 2021. March 2, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210302075446/https://southsoundmag.com/meet-university-of-puget-sounds-new-president/. live.
  12. Web site: Overlooking The Sound reviews: featured guest Ronald Thomas. Gaelyn Moore. The Trail. March 5, 2013. February 22, 2021. September 30, 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220930150340/https://trail.pugetsound.edu/?p=7592. live.
  13. Web site: Reinstitute About Us. February 21, 2021. January 22, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210122132803/https://www.humancapital.com/copy-of-about-us. live.
  14. Web site: College of Idado Leadership. February 21, 2021. January 17, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210117155014/https://www.collegeofidaho.edu/about/leadership. live.
  15. Web site: Vashon Center for the Arts Staff. February 21, 2021. February 25, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210225025843/https://vashoncenterforthearts.org/about/board-and-staff/. live.
  16. Season of Light and Darkness: 'A Tale of Two Cities' and the Daguerrean Imagination.. Cook. Susan. Dickens Studies Annual. 42. 2011. 237–260. 10.7756/dsa.042.011.237-260 . 44371470 . February 22, 2021.
  17. 'Fables' of the Material World in James Ellroy's Los Angeles. Meyer. Joshua. Western American Literature. 51. 3. 2016. 353. 10.1353/wal.2016.0044. 44668477. 164854444. February 23, 2021. April 18, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230418153414/https://www.jstor.org/stable/44668477. live.
  18. A few questions for Mary Thomas. Winter 2007. Arches. University of Puget Sound. February 21, 2021.
  19. Web site: University of Puget Sound Mourns the Passing of President Emeritus Ronald R. Thomas . April 18, 2023 . April 18, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230418153340/https://www.pugetsound.edu/stories/university-puget-sound-mourns-passing-president-emeritus-ronald-r-thomas . live .
  20. Book: Thomas, Ronald. Dreams of Authority: Freud and the Fictions of the Unconscious. 1990. Cambridge University Press. 9780801496943. March 22, 2023. April 18, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230418153400/https://books.google.com/books?id=hh9eQfSeUhMC. live.
  21. Hirsch. Gordon. Reviewed Work. Modern Philology. 90. 3. 1993. 445–448. 10.1086/392096. 438660. February 22, 2021. April 18, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230418153254/https://www.jstor.org/stable/438660. live.
  22. Book: Thomas, Ronald. Detective Fiction and the Rise of Forensic Science. January 2004. Cambridge University Press. 9780521527620. February 23, 2021. April 18, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230418153254/https://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/literature/english-literature-1830-1900/detective-fiction-and-rise-forensic-science?format=PB. live.
  23. Tracing Bodies: Gender, Genre, and Forensic Detective Fiction.. Palmer. Joy. South Central Review. 18. 3/4. 2001. 54–71. 10.2307/3190353. 3190353. February 23, 2021. March 26, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200326030933/https://www.jstor.org/stable/3190353. live.
  24. O’Connor. E.. Winter 2001. Reviewed Work. Albion. 33. 4. 683–684. 10.1017/S0095139000068241.
  25. Book: Thomas. Ronald. Michie. Helena. Nineteenth Century Geographies: The Transformation of Space from the Victorian Age to the American Century. October 23, 2002. Rutgers University Press. 9780813531441. February 23, 2021. October 19, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211019060852/https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/nineteenth-century-geographies/9780813531441/. live.
  26. Thomas. Ronald. Poison Books and Moving Pictures: Vulgarity in The Picture of Dorian Gray. Victorian Vulgarity: Taste in Verbal and Visual Culture. Susan Bernstein and Elsie B. Michie. Ashgate Press. 2009. 185–200.
  27. Thomas. Ronald. Specters of the Novel: Dracula and the Cinematic Afterlife of the Victorian Novel. Victorian Afterlife: Postmodern Culture Rewrites the Nineteenth Century. John Kucich and Dianne F. Sadoff. University of Minnesota Press. 2000. 288–310.
  28. Web site: Governors Rowland and Swift to Speak at Commencement and Class Day Events. May 1, 2002. February 21, 2021. April 18, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230418153252/https://www.newswise.com/articles/governors-rowland-and-swift-to-speak-at-commencement-and-class-day-events. live.
  29. Web site: University of Portland commencement speakers, honorees. Catholic Sentinel. April 2, 2016. February 21, 2021.
  30. Web site: UPS to name Residence Hall for President Ron Thomas and Mary Thomas. May 20, 2016. The Suburban Times. February 21, 2021. May 21, 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160521131335/http://thesubtimes.com/2016/05/20/ups-to-name-residence-hall-for-president-ron-thomas-and-mary-thomas/. live.
  31. Web site: List of the Margaret Church Memorial Prize winners by year. February 21, 2021. June 7, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210607133454/https://cla.purdue.edu/academic/english/publications/mfs/award/index.html. live.
  32. Web site: Faculty Prizes. February 21, 2021. September 17, 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210917231013/https://www.trincoll.edu/dean-of-faculty/meet-the-faculty/faculty-teaching-and-research-prizes/. live.
  33. Web site: NASPA Past Recipients. February 21, 2021. April 18, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230418153255/https://conference.naspa.org/. live.

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