Richard Thomas, professor and chair in the Department of Biology at West Virginia University, has been named interim associate provost for graduate academic affairs, effective July 1, 2020. Thomas will replace Katherine Karraker who has served in the role beginning as interim since 2012 and will retire in August.
“Dr. Karraker has done an excellent job overseeing and providing direction to WVU’s graduate programs,” said Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Maryanne Reed. “We will miss her leadership and wish her well. I’m confident that Dr. Thomas will follow in her footsteps with his own track record of success and his reputation as a thoughtful and creative academic leader.”
Thomas recently served on the Graduate Education Task Force, led by Associate Provost Mark Gavin, which was tasked with re-envisioning graduate education at the University. In his new role, Thomas will oversee graduate academic program planning and performance review, as well as the Office of Graduate Education and Life, and continue to participate on the Task Force.
Thomas says he is looking forward to the opportunity to influence change for WVU students.
“I’m really excited to work closely with all departments, colleges and schools across campus on graduate student issues and to collaborate with them on exploring interdisciplinary opportunities and creating new degrees and certificate programs,” he said.
Thomas is a respected leader, teacher and mentor in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, where he has led the biology department since 2009. Under his leadership, the department has seen significant growth in student numbers, serving more than 800 undergraduate majors and graduate students, as well as more than 5,000 non-majors each year. Thomas also has successfully recruited 11 tenure-track faculty, including in the areas of neuroscience and genomics research, and seven teaching faculty members to the department.
To promote family-friendly, work-life balance, Thomas designed and instituted an innovative mentoring policy for faculty, which became the basis for a model in other units across campus, and a departmental policy for reduced teaching and service loads for pre-tenured faculty.
Since joining WVU in 1995, Thomas has secured more than $3 million in extramural and internal research funding and is a known expert in forest ecosystems, global change and carbon cycling. To date, he has 62 peer-reviewed publications, seven book chapters and one edited volume. Thomas’ work has been highlighted by the National Science Foundation, National Geographic, NBC News and the New York Times, and he has presented his research to audiences around the globe, including China, Austria and multiple locations across the US. He was named Eberly College’s Outstanding Researcher of the Year in 2001.
Thomas’ interim role is a two-year appointment reporting directly to Provost Reed, in which he will help to assess the future direction of WVU’s graduate programs, including their organizational structure and leadership.