Dr. Dene Kay Thomas Selected To Become Eighth President of Fort Lewis College

 

DURANGO, CO – The Board of Trustees for Fort Lewis College today selected Dr. Dene Kay Thomas to become the first woman president to lead the college in its 99-year history. Dr. Thomas, currently president of Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, will begin her duties as the eighth president of Fort Lewis College on July 1, 2010.

“Dr. Thomas has a breadth of skills that has made her an effective president. Fort Lewis College will benefit from her knowledge of the academy and how to lead it, and from her external experiences that will give the college the credibility and the visibility that it deserves,” said Richard G. Ballantine, chair of the board. “She is a good listener, and she is eager to lead Fort Lewis in becoming an even stronger public liberal arts college.”   

 “I look forward to working at an institution that values liberal arts so highly and is important historically to the education of Native Americans,” said Dr. Thomas, who will be formally presented to the campus during the April 2, 2010 board meeting. “I was inspired by what I saw at Fort Lewis.  It is clear to me that education comes alive at Fort Lewis College with its beautiful campus in this breathtaking mountain setting. FLC, with a faculty dedicated to excellence in teaching and student research, has such exciting potential.  Enormous potential.  We will work together and build.” 

 “This is a bittersweet transition for me, because Lewis-Clark State has been such a rewarding experience,” Thomas continued. “I have been deeply committed to higher education at Lewis-Clark State College for the past nine years, and it will be wrenching to leave. I pledge that same commitment at Fort Lewis College.

Dr. Thomas embarked upon her professional academic career as a single mother at the age of 30, when she pursued a bachelor’s degree in English from Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall, Minn., an institution much like Fort Lewis. She then earned a doctorate in English at the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Thomas taught writing at the University of Idaho, where she was an associate professor before undertaking several administrative positions on campus, including vice provost of academic affairs. She became president of Lewis-Clark State, one of four state-supported higher education institutions, in 2001.

During her tenure at Lewis-Clark State, Dr. Thomas reversed declining enrollment trends, restructured the college to better meet its mission and increased the visibility of the college through an energetic public relations and marketing initiative. Dr. Thomas worked closely with the Nez Perce tribe at Lewis-Clark State, the only institution that teaches the Nez Perce language.

She and her husband, Gordon, an English professor and Director of Writing at the University of Idaho, have three adult daughters.

“Dr. Thomas has an underlying belief in the value of the liberal arts tradition, and has shown her commitment to Native American education in her work with the Nez Perce tribe,” board chair Ballantine said. She is an ideal fit for Fort Lewis, Durango and the many broader communities that the college serves.”

President-designate Thomas was one of three finalists considered by the Board of Trustees following a search committee process that reviewed more than 110 candidates, including four sitting presidents, numerous provosts and several non-traditional candidates from outside the academy. All three finalists visited the campus to meet with faculty, staff, administrators, students and community members, many of whom took the opportunity to comment on the candidates during a three-hour public hearing before the board.

“Our three finalists were very strong, with very different backgrounds in higher education,” said Dr. Peter R. Decker, chair of the search committee. “They each had strong support on campus and in the community, an indication that the search process was effective in recruiting compelling candidates committed to the liberal arts and capable of effectively leading Fort Lewis College.”