Thompson
Jennifer Keane-Dawes, Contributor
VIRGINIA:
JAMAICAN Thelma B. Thompson, Ph.D. has been appointed president of the university of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES). She is the first Jamaican woman to serve as president of an American University, and the second Jamaican to serve in a United States college presidential capacity. The first is Dr. T. Shaw, President of Shaw University (no relationship) in North Carolina.
Dr. Thompson's mother, Elaine, who lives in Virginia, told The Sunday
Gleaner: "I am 85 years of age and I thank God that he spared my life to see the success of Thelma and the rest of my seven children. I'm only sorry that their father did not live to see what I see. When we were raising them in Balaclava it wasn't easy. But we put God before and their education next. Now every last one of them is very successful and I cannot begin to tell you how proud I am. Because to come to this country and become a university president, or the vice president of the National Children's Hospital like another one of my daughters, is not an easy thing.
"One thing I know is this: If you treat other people children right, God will take care of yours. I can't begin to tell you how many nights I gave away my dinner right there in Balaclava to other people who were hungry. God be praised."
President Thompson, the second child of Elaine and the late Claude Barnaby of Balaclava, St. Elizabeth will manage an annual operating budget of more than US$63.8 million. The University of Maryland Eastern Shore is a 620-acre land-grant institution that was founded in 1886, and is home to more than 2,900 undergraduates and more than 300 graduate students from 30 states and 55 countries including Jamaica.
Before her appointment to UMES, President Thompson served as Liberal Arts Dean and then Vice President for Academic Affairs at Norfolk State University in Virginia where she managed a budget of nearly US$40 million and helped to secure more than US$11 million in grant funds to construct the L. Douglas Wilder Performing Arts Center. Prior to joining Norfolk State University, she was Professor and Associate Dean in the College of Liberal and Fine Arts at the University of the District of Columbia in Washington D.C. She is an expert in higher education accreditation, certification and accountability.
A graduate of Bethlehem Teachers College that awarded her the prize "The Graduate most likely to succeed", President Thompson told The Sunday Gleaner that she thanks several outstanding teachers and friends for their help in her formative years.
After Bethlehem, she left for the United States and earned her bachelor's, masters and Ph.D degrees with distinction from Howard University. Since then she has taught English in various universities including Howard and the City University of New York. She is a researcher and publisher of various genres. Nathan Chapman Jr. Chairman of the Board of Regents of the University of Maryland System said: "Thelma Thompson is the ideal candidate to lead this historic institution. The depth and breadth of her experience in higher education, combined with her energy and enthusiasm, will be an inspiration to the campus... The university deserves a unique person like Dr. Thompson as its president."
In accepting the offer to serve the institution, President Thompson said "I have a serious mission. With God's help and the proper support, I will succeed."
Her only child, Lisa, is a student at Howard University School of Dentistry.
Jennifer Keane-Dawes is the Director of Graduate Studies at the Norfolk State University in Virginia
