President's Office

Dr. Gloria D. Thomas joined HERS as President August 31, 2021. As President, Dr. Thomas supports the organization as an entrepreneurial and visionary leader responsible for enhancing the reputation of HERS and building strategic relationships to grow and advance the organization and the community of women it seeks to serve.

Dr. Thomas has 20+ years of experience in the area of women’s leadership development that includes time at the University of North Carolina, University of Michigan, as well as the American Council on Education (ACE). She came to HERS from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she served as the Director of the Carolina Women’s Center, Senior Personnel for the NSF-funded Targeting Equity in Access to Mentoring (TEAM) ADVANCE, and the Curriculum Development and Facilitator Trainer for the NIH-funded PROMISE Study. From 2009 – 2016, she was the Executive Director of the Center for the Education of Women (CEW) at the University of Michigan. Earlier, she served as Associate Director at the American Council on Education (ACE) for 8 years, first with the ACE Fellows Program, and subsequently in the Office of Women in Higher Education, where she was responsible for ACE Women’s Networks. Prior to working at ACE, she conducted research at CEW, and coordinated the Women of Color in the Academy Project, a support network for women of color faculty, while pursuing her doctoral degree. She began her career in academic administration in the Office of Admissions at Swarthmore College, where she worked for 7 years.

In North Carolina, Dr. Thomas recently completed a 3-year term as State Chair of the NC ACE Network of Women Leaders in Higher Education. She also volunteered as a writing tutor at the NC Correctional Institution for Women (NCCIW), and served on the board of BRIDGES, a professional development program for women in NC higher education. Dr. Thomas also served as a member and Program Chair for the AAUW Orange, Durham, Chatham Counties Branch and as Education Committee Co-chair and member of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP.

Dr. Thomas earned a B.A. in English and Black Studies from Swarthmore College (PA), an M.A. in English from Villanova University (PA), and a Ph.D. in higher education from the University of Michigan. She is the proud, single mother of two young adults.

Meet HERS, in her words

For more than 50 years, HERS has transformed the lives and careers of women leaders in higher education, advancing greater equity, inclusivity, and excellence. With an innovative and robust arch of programs…

• HERS is a unique nonprofit organization that prepares faculty, staff, and administrators for senior roles in higher education.
• HERS is a change agent, accelerating systemic shifts in higher education through a network of more than 6,000 alums who apply the knowledge gained through HERS to transform their own institutions and impact higher education more broadly.
• HERS is a connector, gathering and galvanizing its extraordinary network of alums who provide support, advice, and mentorship to one another.
• HERS is a thought leader, designing new ways to shape leadership curricula and providing opportunities for ongoing research, partnerships, and collaboration.

Join HERS in our work of transforming U.S. higher education toward institutions of greater equity and belonging, where all campus constituents can thrive in their educational and academic career journeys.