About Linda M. Thomas

She partners with staff, faculty, leadership, and academic deans to ensure the people of James Madison University’s 75+ graduate programs thrive. Recent data shows that 100% of JMU’s master’s and doctoral graduates are employed or accepted into advanced academic programs within 6 months of graduation. And the University has been recently classified as an R2 (High Research University).

Linda M. Thomas has found her 16 years of serving in academic leadership positions rewarding and humbling. Before she was appointed Dean, Linda M. Thomas served as Head of School of Integrated Sciences at James Madison University. She was chair of the Civil, Environment and Ocean Engineering Department at the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. She was chair of the new Construction Management Department at the NewSchool of Architecture & Design in San Diego. And, Associate Chair and Graduate Director at the School of Building Construction at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Dr. Thomas feels the goal of her research is in service to help human suffering. She loves strategizing and bringing ideas together in unconventional ways to help people. She is a futurist who supports interdisciplinary and creative approaches to problem solving.

Dr. Thomas tells her students that failing is not a problem, it teaches you things. When she is able she enjoys teaching a class to help students love calculus. She cares deeply about bridging the gap between research and implementation.

Linda M. Thomas is greatly influenced by her mother, an immigrant from Central America who majored in math in the 1950’s here in the United States. Dr. Thomas cares deeply about international students. She’s created programs and practices pedagogies that support students to be contentious global citizens. She knows there is value from everyone, and opportunity to contribute fully to society.

She has served as President of the Sigma Gamma Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.® since 2020. Dr. Thomas is also co-advisor for the Lambda Chi Chapter of AKA at James Madison University.

Linda M. Thomas, JD, PhD is author of Legal Concepts for Facility Managers (Wiley-Blackwell), a book for non-lawyers about risks that facility managers face. She applies law to science and technology. Her research interests include megaproject failure and interdisciplinary studies in Higher Education, especially Educational Leadership. She loves helping people become better leaders.

Engineers are problem solvers. Dr. Thomas packed her toolbelt with unique experiences that bring insight to how she leads. When she volunteered for the Olympics Committee for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, she was hired as an Assistant Project Manager. Shortly after, she was promoted to Construction Manager where she led the design, construction, and demolition of Olympic Village, a city where 15,000 athletes lived. She was a trial attorney at a law firm in Atlanta, Georgia. Linda M. Thomas feels she’s always been a student of leadership growing up in a military family, and later as an Active-Duty Officer in the United States Navy Civil Engineer Corps.

Education