National Park College Vice President for Academic Affairs Jerry Thomas was selected as part of the 2023-2024 cohort for the Aspen Rising Presidents Fellowship.
Thomas was one of 35 nationwide selected, and the only representative from Arkansas, to take part in a 10-month program in which they will work with Aspen leaders, Stanford University faculty, and accomplished community college presidents, to research student success and what drives excellent and equitable outcomes for them in college and after.
"I'm extremely excited and thrilled to be selected," he said. "It's a competitive process; you have to fill out an application, and there are other folks who have your credentials, and probably credentials better than yours. And so I was real excited to be selected. And, of course, Aspen is an executive leadership program, and it's kind of prestigious to be selected for the program, so I was excited."
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According to a news release, the program is delivered in collaboration with the Stanford Educational Leadership initiative, and prepares the "next generation of community college presidents to transform institutions to achieve higher and more equitable levels of student success."
Thomas, who joined NPC in January 2016, earned his undergraduate degree in history from Southern Arkansas University, his master's in history from Louisiana Tech University, a master's in counseling from Southern Arkansas University, and a doctorate in educational administration from Texas A & M University in Commerce, Texas.
He said education has been transformative in his life, and he is passionate about serving in a leadership capacity to help further it.
"It's really helped me to be where I am today, and having the opportunity to provide those opportunities for other students, regardless of where they come from -- to help them be able to reach their goals and their aspirations in life -- that really motivates me and encourages me to get up every day and come to work and do the work that I do," he said.
According to the release, Rising Presidents Fellows plan to be a college president within five years of completion.
"As fellows, they join a network of over 300 forward-thinking peers -- 155 of whom are sitting college presidents -- who are applying grounded and innovative strategies to meet student success challenges in their colleges," it said.
Working with these people will be a great experience, he said, noting the onboarding process has already begun and next week they will have a virtual orientation and meet the leaders of the Aspen Institute.
"We have to participate in three sessions throughout the year," he said. "The first one will be in July and it will be at Stanford. And we'll have the opportunity to meet the leadership team there. Some of them are faculty at Stanford University, others are former presidents and sitting presidents, and so that's real exciting.
"And then we have two more sessions, one in November and one the final session is in April of 2024, actually at Aspen, Colorado, so I'm really thrilled about that opportunity to go there as well."
Each fellow has a mentor who will work with them throughout the 10 months, to "help us kind of refine what our leadership skills are and our perspectives on higher education, and really help us to better understand how to lead," he said.
They will also learn about some of the challenges community colleges face and how to handle them while leading. They also have a capstone project that will be due at the end of the 10 months.
"I'm real excited because I believe that the work that I do over the next 10 months is not only just going to help me be a better leader, but it's also going to help me here at NPC, National Park College, to really improve our student success, outcomes here at the college," he said.
Asked of his long-term goals, Thomas said he would like to become a community college president, but his goal in life is to continue to find opportunities for students to access to higher education and help them thrive, be able to graduate, get a job, and support themselves and their families.
"That's what I'm hoping to accomplish with this experience and all the work that I do every day here at National Park College," he said.
Vice President for Academic Affairs Jerry Thomas. - Submitted photo