Back to Smeal, this time as dean
After six years with IST, Thomas returned to Smeal as the dean and held the title of Surma Dean for the second half of his tenure. Gioia credited his friend’s desire to “not do the same thing over and over again” with an interest in coming back to Smeal as dean.
Thomas noted that his first challenge was to capitalize on the newly completed Business Building to create a more cohesive community. Previously, classes, faculty and administration had been located in disparate parts of the campus.
“The leadership challenge in bringing us all together was to create a sense of culture, identity and family,” Thomas said. “We had a great team of folks and were able to create that community.”
One critical element of the change was to engage with the Smeal Board of Visitors and add new members with varied expertise to represent the diverse disciplines and student backgrounds and interests, said former Board of Visitors member Martha Jordan, who served as chair when Thomas was appointed dean, right after the new Business Building was opened.
“Jim quickly endeared himself to the longstanding members of the Board of Visitors, and tackled the operational and administrative challenges,” she said. “He did so with a keen focus that the Smeal College was part of the bigger institutional whole of Penn State. His love and loyalty to Penn State as an institution was very evident.”
Program expansion
During Thomas’s time as Smeal dean, the college took a close look at several programs. The former Insurance and Real Estate Department was transformed into the Department of Risk Management, which included three options: actuarial science, enterprise risk management and real estate.
Keith Crocker, former chair of Smeal’s Department of Risk Management and William Elliott Chaired Professor of Insurance and Risk Management, said this would never have happened but for Thomas’s unflagging support and his ability to obtain support from the highest levels of the University for this initiative.
“Jim was also a very strong supporter of our world-class undergraduate actuarial science program and the associated major,” Crocker added. “On his watch, we hired the first professional director of the program, Ron Gebhardtsbauer, who built the Penn State Actuarial Science Program into the largest in the United States, both in terms of the number of majors and the number of students passing the actuarial examinations created by the Society of Actuaries. Because of Ron’s efforts and Jim’s support of actuarial science as a spire of excellence in Smeal, we are now one of a select few programs that are certified as a Center of Actuarial Excellence by the Society of Actuaries.”
Brent Ambrose, professor of real estate, Jason and Julie Borrelli Faculty Chair in Real Estate and director of the Borelli Institute of Real Estate Studies, remembered how Thomas supported the establishment of the Penn State Real Estate Advisory Board. With Thomas’ support, the advisory board contributed both time and financial resources to return the real estate major, which had previously been dropped during budget cuts.
“Fifteen years later, the Penn State Real Estate Advisory Board continues to expand and promote the real estate programs at Penn State,” Ambrose added.
Edward Reutzel, senior associate dean for research and faculty during Thomas’ time as dean, said: “As dean, Jim was very strategic in aligning Smeal’s initiatives with the strategy of the University. This enabled us to secure the resources we needed to pursue our needs.”
In addition, Smeal reconfigured the college’s programs. For example, introductory courses such as management, finance and accounting were offered earlier so students could make an informed decision when they declared their major for the junior year. Also, faculty/student ratios were improved by increasing funding for salaries and hiring and reducing class sizes, which allowed for more personalized, customized learning. As a result, the faculty/student ratio was improved to match the average of the Big Ten business schools.
The revamped interdisciplinary curriculum resonated positively with employers. It helped propel Smeal to the No. 1 spot among top schools for corporate recruiters in the Wall Street Journal in 2010 and to No. 3 in the Big Ten for Businessweek’s 2011 listing of best undergraduate business schools.
“Rankings don’t tell the full story, but they did communicate that there was a recognition that what we were doing had real value,” Thomas said.
Honor Code established
Board of Trustees Chair Schuyler also lauded Thomas for launching efforts with Smeal students and staff to create and codify an approach to ethics and integrity with the Smeal Honor Code: “His trailblazing approach became a best practice across Penn State.”
Linda Klebe Treviño, distinguished professor of organizational behavior and ethics, had her office near Thomas’ for many years in the Management and Organization Department before he moved into administrative roles. When Thomas became Dean of the Smeal College, she said he was the “one who got honor and integrity done.”
“At the time, advisory board members, undergraduate and MBA students were all clamoring for an honor code,” said Treviño, who contributed her own interest and expertise to its development. “Jim quickly gave the students the support they needed and hired the college’s first honor and integrity director to help students create the code and the culture needed to support it. It was a special time in the college, and I will always be grateful to Jim for his leadership.”
“We were the first college to have an honor code," said Thomas. "I think it’s a source of pride for many students as they come through. It moved trust from being something that was punished if it was dishonored to becoming something that students consider what it means in their life and what it means for their career."
He said he has also heard anecdotal stories that the honor code gave Penn State Smeal graduates an edge with potential employers.
Academic and leadership style
Along with the various administrative leadership jobs, Thomas continued teaching.
Gioia, who was in the Smeal Management Department when Thomas joined in 1987, added: “As a teacher, Jim was always topline, perhaps because he had mastered the art of telling good stories. He also had good examples that would make his lectures come alive. He was always great at teaching large-section classes, although I don’t think that setting necessarily came easily to him. For instance, we were part of the same team teaching a large section of Management 100 in the Forum. I remember seeing him pumping himself up to go onstage. That told me that he took his teaching seriously.”
Treviño agreed. “I remember Jim mostly as an award-winning teacher who would pace the hallway to prepare for his classroom ‘performances,’ which students loved,” she said.
Robert Novack, associate professor of supply chain management who also retires this year, said Thomas as a leader was always passionate about doing whatever it took to stand up for, and help, his people.
“If I had a question or concern, I had no reservations about walking into his office — unannounced — to talk with him. He always had time,” said Novack. “He has a great sense of humor, which goes a long way when you are a dean. I always knew he had my — and all other faculty and staff in Smeal — interests at the forefront.”
Reutzel recalls the time he went to Pittsburgh after his mother passed away in 2007.
“One night at the funeral home I looked up to see Jim and Michele [Jim's wife] walking in to pay their respects. His thoughtfulness to console me at this time was touching. I will always remember his kindness. It meant a lot to me,” he said.
Next steps
What does the future hold? According to Thomas there’s nothing specific yet, but that he’s keeping his eye out for interesting opportunities.
“Every step of the way in my career has been serendipity,” he noted. “I didn’t plan to be a dean twice. I didn’t plan to go back to school after the Joint Select Committee on Information Technology for the Florida Legislature — a colleague convinced me to try and I took a chance to go to the University of Texas at Austin for a Ph.D. It worked out okay, to say the least. As of now, I haven’t planned out retirement at all. The grandchildren and travel will be involved, but I don’t know yet what the ‘making a difference’ part will be.”