Joab Langston Thomas (February 14, 1933 – March 3, 2014) was an American university administrator and scientist, who served as president of
Pennsylvania State University,
North Carolina State University and
The University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the public ...
.
Early life and education
Thomas was born in
Holt and grew up in
Russellville, Alabama
Russellville is a city in Franklin County in the U.S. state of Alabama. At the 2020 census, the population of the city was 10,855, up from 9,830 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Franklin County.
History
After the War of 1812, t ...
. His father, Ralph Cage Thomas, was the town's superintendent of education; his mother,
Chamintney Stovall Thomas, was a music teacher.
He was educated at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
where he earned bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in biological sciences with a concentration in botany.
Academic career
He served as a professor of biology at
The University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the public ...
from 1961 until his subsequent appointment as assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, followed by his appointment as vice president for student affairs in 1969.
He was inducted into
Omicron Delta Kappa as a faculty/staff initiate in 1967.
Thomas took the position of chancellor at
North Carolina State University in 1976; he was the school's ninth chief executive. While in office, enrollment at the university grew by 25 percent and surpassed 20,000 for the first time. He oversaw the establishment of the
School of Veterinary Medicine, the Center for Economic and Business Studies, the North Carolina Japan Center, and the Caldwell Fellows scholarship program.
Thomas resigned as chancellor in 1981.
A partial manuscript collection related to Joab Langston Thomas is housed in the NCSU Libraries Special Collections Research Center in
D.H. Hill Library. In addition, Thomas Hall was named in his honor in 2009.
In 1981 Thomas returned to
The University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the public ...
to serve as the school's president,
an office he held until 1988. During his presidency, the university tripled research funding, raised admission standards, established a core curriculum and a University-wide honors program, and initiated the Presidential Scholars program to recruit top students. He also helped develop
the UA Arboretum and served as its second director.
A notable hire of his presidency at Alabama was that of
Ray Perkins
Walter Ray Perkins (November 6, 1941 – December 9, 2020) was an American football coach and player. He played as a wide receiver for the University of Alabama and Baltimore Colts. He later worked as a football coach for 28 years, including sti ...
to succeed
Bear Bryant as the school's football coach in December 1982. Thomas later hired
Bill Curry
William Alexander Curry (born October 21, 1942) is a retired American football coach and former player.
Most recently, Curry was the head coach at Georgia State University, which began competing in college football in 2010. Previously, Curry s ...
to succeed Perkins in 1987 when Perkins left to become coach of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
's
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...
.
He served as president of
Pennsylvania State University from 1990-1995, where he oversaw the largest building program in the university's history and oversaw Penn State's entry into the Big 10 athletic conference.
The
Thomas Building on Penn State's University Park campus is named in his honor, and houses parts of the Eberly College of Science, including the Department of Statistics.
Other accomplishments
Thomas was a member of the academic honor societies Omicron Delta Kappa,
Phi Beta Kappa
The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal ...
, and
Sigma Xi
Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society () is a highly prestigious, non-profit honor society for scientists and engineers. Sigma Xi was founded at Cornell University by a junior faculty member and a small group of graduate students in 1886 ...
.
In 2001 Omicron Delta Kappa honored him with the Laurel Crowned Circle Award, the society's highest honor. He was co-author of several books, including ''Wildflowers of Alabama and Adjoining States'' (1973), ''Poisonous Plants and Venomous Animals of Alabama and Adjoining States'' (1990), and ''The Rising South'' (1976), as well as numerous articles. Beginning in 1976, Thomas served on the Board of Directors of three agricultural research centers related to the World Health Organization: The
International Potato Center
The International Potato Center (known as CIP from its Spanish-language name ''Centro Internacional de la Papa'') is a research facility based in Lima, Peru, that seeks to reduce poverty and achieve food security on a sustained basis in dev ...
(Peru),
ISNAR (Netherlands), and the
International Fund for Agricultural Research (CGIAR, in Kenya) were involved in research and outreach to provide better sources of food around the world. He traveled several times each year to meet agricultural authorities and visit research facilities where this work was being done. He received honorary doctorate degrees from
The University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the public ...
,
North Carolina State University,
Stillman College
Stillman College is a private historically black Presbyterian college in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It awards the Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees in 17 disciplines/majors housed within three academic schools (Arts and Sciences, Busin ...
and
Tri-State University
Trine University is a private university in Angola, Indiana. It was founded in 1884 and offers degrees in the arts and sciences, business, education, and engineering. Trine University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
History
Tri ...
.
Death
Thomas died in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on March 3, 2014 from
natural causes at the age of 81.
References
External links
Guide to the Joab L. Thomas Papers 1973-1981
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Joab
1933 births
2014 deaths
Chancellors of North Carolina State University
Harvard University alumni
Presidents of the University of Alabama
Presidents of Pennsylvania State University
People from Tuscaloosa County, Alabama
People from Russellville, Alabama