ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan Center for the Education of Women has selected Gloria Thomas as its new director, effective Jan. 1.

Thomas earned her doctorate in higher education at the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, and she will return to Ann Arbor after eight years at the American Council on Education (ACE) in Washington, D.C.

“Dr. Thomas’s experience with institutional climate issues will position her to further CEW’s commitment to advocacy and service for staff and faculty,” said Lester Monts, senior vice provost for academic affairs and senior counsel to the president.

“She brings her well-developed connections to women’s organizations across the country, including her membership on the board of the National Council for Research on Women (NCRW) and her deep engagement in the ACE state networks.”

Thomas succeeds Carol Hollenshead, who currently is in phased retirement.

“The Center for the Education of Women is in great hands with Gloria Thomas,” said Hollenshead, director emerita and principal investigator at CEW. “Dr. Thomas is nationally known in her current role as the associate director of the American Council on Education’s (ACE) Office of Women in Higher Education, focusing on the same gender issues that CEW addresses. Gloria is an alumna of the University and of the center. I am delighted that she’s returning to Michigan, and I anticipate an exciting future for CEW.”

Thomas also serves as associate project director of the ACE-Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Projects to Advance Faculty Career Flexibility in the Center for Effective Leadership. In this role, she oversees a series of projects to promote career flexibility for tenured and tenure-track faculty.

She has served as an anonymous reviewer of proposals submitted to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and lead or co-authored five successful grant proposals netting $1.5 million in funding to ACE during a four-year period. This experience has prepared her to oversee CEW’s current research projects as well as to expand its research agenda through collaborations on campus and with other women’s centers, Monts says.

With this appointment, Thomas returns to CEW, where she worked as the staff coordinator of the Women of Color in the Academy Project (WOCAP) and a graduate assistant while completing requirements for her doctorate.