Ronald R. Thomas

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.” Thomas also serves on the governing boards of the College of Idaho and Vashon Center for the Arts in Washington State.

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.”

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 with a focus on civic engagement and innovation; and an ambitious comprehensive capital campaign.

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

He 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. He was chosen as Trinity’s interim president in 2001 and 2002.

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.

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 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. 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.

Ronald R. Thomas (born 1949) is 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.