About

Dr. Thomas has more than 25 years of experience in working with leaders in secondary and higher education, and is especially skilled at developing and implementing diversity, mentoring and leadership initiatives. Dr. Thomas has served as an executive DEI leader at the University of Missouri Kansas City (UMKC) School of Medicine, the University of Kansas, and at the University of South Florida Polytechnic. He is recognized for his Thomas Principles, a mentoring model designed to increase college student progression and graduation rates. In 2018, Dr. Thomas with Dr, Arredondo received a $3.2 million grant to pipeline students from disadvantage communities to UMKC health science professional schools and he helped the UMKC School of Medicine achieve national recognition by receiving the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award.