Joab Thomas

Joab Langston Thomas was born in 1933 in Holt, Alabama. He was educated at Harvard University where he earned three degrees in biological sciences with a concentration in botany.

He served as a professor of biology at the University of Alabama from 1966 until his appointment as vice president for student affairs in 1969.

Thomas took the position of chancellor at North Carolina State University in 1975; the school's ninth chief executive. While in office, enrollment at the university surpassed 20,000 for the first time. He also oversaw the establishment of the School of Veterinary Medicine. Thomas resigned as chancellor in 1981.

In 1981 Thomas returned to the University of Alabama to serve as the school's president, an office he held until 1988. He also served as president of Pennsylvania State University from 1990-1995. 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. [http://www.campusmaps.psu.edu/buildings/thomas.shtml]

Thomas was a member of the academic honor societies Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi.

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