President Ron Thomas Joins NAICU Executive Committee

TACOMA, Wash. – University of Puget Sound President Ronald R. Thomas has been named chair of the Committee on Student Aid at the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU).

Thomas assumed his new responsibilities on the NAICU Board of Directors’ Executive Committee at the 2015 annual meeting of the association representing the voice of private, nonprofit institutions across the country. Thomas initially joined the NAICU board, based in Washington, D.C., in 2013, at his peers' invitation.

“Private higher education today faces an unprecedented combination of challenges, including the deepening role of the federal government, tightening fiscal constraints, rapidly changing student demographics, technological innovation, and globalization,” said NAICU President David L. Warren. “The experience and leadership of Ronald Thomas and the other new NAICU board officers will be critical in the years ahead as the association and our members navigate this time of change and challenge for American higher education.”

Thomas is taking the Committee on Student Aid's helm when student finances have been the subject of national attention by families and politicians alike. Student financial aid plays a pivotal role in issues including access to college, diversity of the student body, the cost of attendance, and college completion.

Under the Obama administration in the new Republican-controlled Congress, there is an ongoing debate over student aid issues such as family college savings plan taxes; the number and size of student grant programs; the future of Pell Grants, Perkins Loans, and campus-based aid programs; and the complexity of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Also on Congress’s agenda is the pending reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which will determine many key student aid programs' fate.

As a member of the NAICU board, Thomas also shares the directors’ overarching role of setting the association’s agenda on federal higher education policy, encouraging NAICU priorities and initiatives and overseeing its financial administration.

Since assuming the role of president at Puget Sound 12 years ago, Thomas has served in numerous positions representing the higher education sector, including as a member of the board of directors for the American Council on Education and as a member of the Education Cabinet of the Chronicle of Higher Education and The New York Times. He is the former chair of the Independent Colleges of Washington board and served on the NCAA Division III President’s Council. Thomas is a current member of the NAICU’s Board of Directors and is on the Annapolis Group's executive committee, a consortium of about 130 leading, national, independent liberal arts colleges.

Thomas is the 13th president at Puget Sound since its founding in Tacoma in 1888. He has led the selective, residential liberal arts college in three critical planning efforts: a 20-year master plan for enhancement of Puget Sound’s inspiring campus; a strategic plan to position the university as a national leader in liberal arts education; and the $125 million One [of a Kind] comprehensive campaign—the most ambitious in the university’s history and more than twice the size of any previous campaign goal.

NAICU serves as a national voice for independent higher education. Since 1976 it has addressed federal government policy issues such as student aid, taxation, and government regulation. NAICU has more than 1,000 member institutions and associations. Its members range widely, including traditional liberal arts colleges, major research universities; historically black colleges; art institutions, law, medicine, business, and engineering.

Press photos of President Ronald R. Thomas can be downloaded from pugetsound.edu/pressphotos.

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