Joab Langston Thomas was an American university administrator and scientist, who served as president of Pennsylvania State University, North Carolina State University and The University of Alabama.
16 Facts About Joab Thomas
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Joab Thomas's father, Ralph Cage Thomas, was the town's superintendent of education; his mother, Chamintney Stovall Thomas, was a music teacher.
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Joab Thomas was educated at Harvard University where he earned bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees in biological sciences with a concentration in botany.
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Joab Thomas served as a professor of biology at The University of Alabama from 1961 until his subsequent appointment as assistant dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, followed by his appointment as vice president for student affairs in 1969.
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Joab Thomas took the position of chancellor at North Carolina State University in 1976; he was the school's ninth chief executive.
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Joab Thomas oversaw the establishment of the School of Veterinary Medicine, the Center for Economic and Business Studies, the North Carolina Japan Center, and the Caldwell Fellows scholarship program.
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In 1981 Joab Thomas returned to The University of Alabama to serve as the school's president, an office he held until 1988.
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Joab Thomas helped develop the UA Arboretum and served as its second director.
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Joab Thomas later hired Bill Curry to succeed Perkins in 1987 when Perkins left to become coach of the National Football League's Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
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Joab Thomas served as president of Pennsylvania State University from 1990 to 1995, where he oversaw the largest building program in the university's history and oversaw Penn State's entry into the Big 10 athletic conference.
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The Joab 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.
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Joab Thomas was a member of the academic honor societies Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Beta Kappa, and Sigma Xi.
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Joab Thomas was co-author of several books, including Wildflowers of Alabama and Adjoining States, Poisonous Plants and Venomous Animals of Alabama and Adjoining States, and The Rising South, as well as numerous articles.
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Joab Thomas traveled several times each year to meet agricultural authorities and visit research facilities where this work was being done.
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Joab Thomas received honorary doctorate degrees from The University of Alabama, North Carolina State University, Stillman College and Tri-State University.
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Joab Thomas died in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on March 3,2014, from natural causes at the age of 81.