Commencement Hall, in the heart of campus, becomes Thomas Hall.
TACOMA, Wash. – University of Puget Sound President Ronald R. Thomas and Dr. Mary Thomas will be recognized for their exceptional leadership and the landmark transformations made at the college during their 13 years of service by the naming of a building in their honor.
In honor of Ronald R. and Mary D. Thomas, Thomas Hall is a LEED-certified academic-residential building formerly known as Commencement Hall, an innovative living/learning space that is a signature project of President Thomas’s tenure.
“As a residential national liberal arts college, creating an inspiring and seamless environment for student learning and living is at the heart of our mission,” Thomas said at the building’s opening in 2013. The Puget Soundboard of trustees announced the building's naming at a dinner celebrating the Thomases, following the trustees’ annual meeting on Friday.
The trustees also passed a resolution honoring Ron Thomas with the titles of president emeritus, trustee emeritus, and English emeritus professor. Thomas will complete his service as the 13th president of Puget Sound on June 30.
“Ron and Mary came to Puget Sound in 2003 with a clear vision to fulfill the university’s ambition to be the very best version of itself—a national liberal arts college, with the imprint of the Pacific Northwest, that stands with distinction among the most highly regarded colleges in the nation,” said Richard Brooks ’82, chair of the university’s board of trustees. “On behalf of the trustees, we are honored to have served Puget Sound during his remarkable tenure. Given the high esteem in which the campus community holds Ron and Mary, Thomas Hall should be located at the very heart of campus.”
“Mary and I are deeply honored by this tribute,” Thomas said. “We were drawn here by the spirit of this community and discovered a home that has sustained and inspired us throughout our time here. We thank the trustees and the campus community for lending our names to this building that exemplifies everything we believe about the power of a residential liberal arts education in preparing generations of students for creative and useful lives.”
Thomas Hall was inspired by the campus’s comprehensive Tapestry of Learning master plan, in which Thomas calls the campus “our most valuable and distinctive asset. It is our link to the past and our key to the future. Our responsibility is to invest in it wisely and care for it responsibly.”
Ron Thomas became the 13th president of Puget Sound on July 16, 2003. He has worked tirelessly to enhance the student experience, build an inspiring environment for learning, forge lifelong relationships with students and alumni, and strengthen its financial position.
He established the Civic Scholarship Initiative, which connects Puget Sound’s faculty and students with citizens working to addressing community needs; championed the growth of the Race and Pedagogy Initiative, which works to eliminate racism; and supported the creation of the Sound Policy Institute to sustain the natural environment in balance with a healthy, prosperous, and just community.
Puget Sound has expanded its offerings in emerging disciplines and nurtured a culture of scholarship that each year sees new graduates earning prestigious national fellowships and securing work in businesses and nonprofits worldwide. Under Thomas’s leadership, Puget Sound raised a record $131.6 million to support the objectives of a 10-year strategic plan to improve access to and the affordability of a Puget Sound education, and to enrich the curriculum, build community, and transform the campus while strengthening ties with the Tacoma community.
Press photos of Ron and Mary Thomas, of Thomas Hall, and a rendering of the new name on the building can be downloaded from pugetsound.edu/pressphotos.
Photos on page: From top right: Rendition of the new doorway at Thomas Hall; Ron and Mary Thomas receive from Chair of Trustees Rick Brooks ’82 the Board of Trustees resolution in their honor, which includes the naming of Thomas Hall; Thomas Hall under a full moon with Mount Rainier in the rear; Thomas Hall viewed from the north side, along N. 13th Street. Photos by Ross Mulhausen
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