After serving six years as an associate professor in the College of Education, Chippewa Thomas has been appointed director of faculty engagement in the office of the Vice President for University Outreach.
Thomas said her role as director of faculty engagement is to have an awareness of outreach initiatives already in place on campus and, when presented with new ideas, help find the resources needed to make the outreach project possible for faculty.
"I think it's necessary for us, as a land-grant institution, to have someone like this to head up faculty engagement and to make sure our faculty members understand pressing issues outside the state of Alabama," said Royrickers Cook, assistant vice president for University Outreach.
Thomas said although others have accomplished a great deal with her new position in the past, she wants to take things even further.
She would like to see the creation of an Outreach Scholarship Symposium, where faculty get together to discuss outreach projects and have refereed conference proceeding, giving faculty the opportunity to submit work for evaluation and possible publication.
Thomas also wants to create a faculty outreach scholarship or scholar fellowship program, which will provide funds to help faculty establish outreach programs.
"I'd love to engage in community-based participatory and action research with community-based organizations to find out where the needs are," Thomas said. "I think research could then inform our outcomes or where we can make rather improvements."
Thomas has participated in a number of teaching or instruction-related activities, as well as research projects related to social justice, multicultural or cultural competence development and outreach activities.
"I have a very strong commitment to using the research that I've conducted to inform my teaching and teaching to inform my research." Thomas said. "An extension of that is an ongoing service to outreach, which really lead me to want to apply for this job."
In the past five years, she has been dedicated to the outreach program KEMET Academy (knowledge, excellence, mathematics, equilibrium and technology), which focuses on African American students in low-income areas in Alabama to improve academic success and encourage higher education.
"She's of a mind of social justice, and she wants to do outreach, and she's been very facilitated with outreach kinds of projects," said Everett Martin, special education, rehabilitation and counseling department head. "I expect to see that she'll continue that same vein and I think it's something that's very needed."
Thomas considers volunteering at the domestic violence intervention center in Opelika as a very important part of her life.
"I see the director of faculty engagement under the University Outreach as real outreach opportunity to benefit faculty and then also to benefit community that's not just local community, but state, regional, national and international," Thomas said.
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