President Ronald R. Thomas
The University of Puget Sound is honored to welcome Ronald R. Thomas as its thirteenth president, and only its fifth since 1913.

President Thomas came to Puget Sound with a twenty-year record of accomplishment as an award-winning scholar, teacher, and administrator at Trinity College, the University of Chicago, and Harvard University. A scholar of Victorian literature and culture, he has authored three books and numerous articles on subjects ranging from the role of the novel in the development of the modern detective, mapmaking, dream interpretation, forensic science, and the invention of the cinema. As vice president and acting president at Trinity, Dr. Thomas oversaw the college's $100-million master plan and played a leadership role in its nationally recognized engagement with the city of Hartford. Trinity awarded him the Dean Arthur Hughes prize for distinguished teaching achievement in 1997 and, in 2002, an honorary doctorate for his visionary leadership as "an insightful scholar, masterful teacher, and skilled administrator." Dr. Thomas assumed his responsibilities at Puget Sound on July 16, 2003, when he and his wife, Mary, a dean of students and faculty member at Trinity College for 14 years, settled into their home on the Puget Sound campus.

Established in 1888 by what is now the United Methodist Church, the University of Puget Sound occupied two sites in downtown Tacoma before moving to its current location in the historic North End in 1923. Puget Sound has a long tradition of engagement with Tacoma and played an integral role in the founding of the Tacoma Art Museum, the Tacoma Actor's Guild, the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, and the Museum of Glass. Alumni have positions of leadership throughout the world, with more than 13,000 deeply involved in the civic, cultural, and social fabric.

Throughout his career, Ronald Thomas has demonstrated an equal commitment to academic excellence and civic engagement. Shortly after his arrival, he wrote an editorial in The News Tribune, which included these words: "Our unconditional commitment to the discovery of knowledge must go hand in hand with an unwavering commitment to cooperating with our neighbors in the North End, downtown and beyond. If it is to have any purpose, our search for truth must be joined to a quest for justice; our private mission must have public implications. I come to the University of Puget Sound with a strong commitment to the principle of the college as a good citizen and [a commitment to] our creative understanding and our collaborative approach to the distinctive challenges and the remarkable opportunities we face here."

For more information on President Thomas, see the "Time, charged with meaning" link in the Related Links section at the right.