John and Mary Thomas, creators of an endowed faculty chair in the Meek School of Journalism and New Media. (Courtesy UM Communications)
The University of Mississippi will receive $1.5 million to create an endowed chair for the Integrated Marketing Communications program.
The John and Mary Thomas Chair will help the Meek School of Journalism and New Media’s program continue to thrive. IMC is the fastest-growing undergraduate degree program on campus. It began at the university in the fall of 2011, and now has more than 500 undergraduate students.
“If this degree would have been around when I was in school, it would’ve been what I had majored in,” John Thomas said in a telephone interview. “I’m thrilled the school is offering something so many students want to be a part of.”
Thomas, a 1985 graduate of the journalism department, said his mother, Suzanne Thomas, loved Ole Miss and was a major influence on his decision to attend the university. Thomas and his wife live with their three children in Illinois, where Thomas recently retired from Abbott Laboratories as vice president of investor relations and public affairs.
Thomas and his wife Mary, who received her master’s degree in IMC from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University and also had a career in communications, offered the endowment to enable The University of Mississippi to hire IMC faculty to help students succeed. The gift from the Thomases will be partially matched by Abbott Laboratories, for a total of $1.5 million.
“It was started to help the school keep up with all of the growth and not lose what it’s all about,” Thomas said. “It was to ensure that students in the future would have faculty who would help them be successful.”
Thomas credits his success to the support of professors while he attended Ole Miss, which is one reason he decided to give to the Barnard Initiative, a campaign to support faculty.
“When they approached me about the position, I said I wanted to be the first one,” Thomas said, laughing.
Thomas said that he owes Meek School Dean Will Norton and other faculty for giving him opportunities and nurturing his education.
“I still have a treasured pencil sketch of Farley Hall that was given to me by a good fraternity friend of mine,” Thomas said. “He was a graphic arts major who decided to sketch Farley because he knew I was a journalism major who spent a lot of time inside laboring over my each and every story. Today, I have that same pencil sketch above my desk at home. It’s my inspiration and motivation to keep writing, with passion, honesty and integrity.”
Thomas said he also admired Tommy Miller, his advanced reporting instructor.
Miller was “an incredible teacher – an experienced and gritty newspaper editor who made his students feel like they were part of an actual newspaper editorial staff. He scared the hell out of us the first few days of class – we all knew immediately that he was a no-nonsense professional who wasn’t going to take it easy on us because we were students.”
While a student at Ole Miss, Thomas was active in Kappa Sigma fraternity, involved in intramural sports and was a writer for The Daily Mississippian. He even began his own newspaper that was inspired by Professor Samir Husni’s magazine class.
“We were thinking we could start our own newspaper and Dr. Husni gave us a lot of confidence,” Thomas said. “The Oxford Times was pretty successful and the community was very supportive of having the newspaper we created as another option for news.” Thomas later sold his share to his partner.
After a brief enrollment in the Ole Miss law school, Thomas said he quickly decided it wasn’t for him, so he sought advice from Norton.
“Metropolitan Home Magazine called and were looking for writers and Dean Norton gave them my name,” Thomas said. “Then they called and asked me to come up for an interview.”
After landing the job, Thomas continued to ask Norton for guidance.
After other writing jobs, Thomas ended up at Abbott Laboratories, and at the age of 42 was a corporate officer. “I was a jack of all trades with experience in journalism, public relations, being able to communicate,” Thomas said. “But even with every skill in the world, if you can’t write, then none of it matters.”
Thomas said that the Meek School has professors who have helped the school become nationally recognized. “They have provided the education and given students the skills to function as journalism has shifted to Internet and social media,” Thomas said. “Dr. Norton is a tremendous leader and knows so many people. He is very influential and is supported fully.”
Students majoring in integrated marketing communications take IMC and journalism courses, with an emphasis on writing along with classes in public relations, advertising, market research and account planning. Students must minor in business administration. Assistant Professor Scott Fiene is the director of the undergraduate IMC program.
Norton said that the Thomases’ gift will contribute to the growth and development of the school. The money committed for the endowment will be complete in 10 years.
“John’s purpose for giving the gift means an increase in structural support for IMC, the possibility of making another nationally competitive hire and another example of the IMC profile,” Norton said.
