Athens, Ga. – Kecia Thomas, senior advisor to the dean for inclusion and diversity leadership in the University of Georgia’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, has been named winner of the Janet Chusmir Service Award from the national Academy of Management.
The Chusmir Award is given to a person who has made an outstanding contribution to the Gender and Diversity Division of AOM, which is a professional association for scholars dedicated to creating and disseminating knowledge about management and organizations. Founded in 1936 by two professors, the Academy of Management is the oldest and largest scholarly management association in the world.
This is the second major award this year for Thomas, who is also a professor in the Applied Psychology Program at UGA. In April, she was named a fellow of the Society for Industrial/Organizational Psychology, the first African-American woman to receive this honor.
The Chusmir Award also recognizes someone who has personally served as a mentor and a role model for others in the field.
Thomas, who has been a faculty member at UGA since 1993, earned her bachelor’s degree at Bucknell, and her master’s and doctoral degrees at Penn State. Arriving on campus as an assistant professor, she was promoted to associate in 2000 and full professor in 2006. She was named coordinator of graduate education in the department of psychology in 2003.
In addition, Thomas is a member of the faculty of the Institute for African American Studies at UGA, is an Institute of Women’s Studies affiliate and is also a member of the Honors faculty. In 2006-2007 she was interim director of the African-American Studies Institute, and in 2007 she was named to her current position in the Franklin College. She is also the founding director of a program called Center for Research and Engagement in Diversity in the Franklin College.
She is the author of Diversity Dynamics in the Workplace, is the editor of two other books and has authored numerous chapters in books as well.
In 2004, she was awarded UGA’s first diversity award for her efforts toward advancing the university’s diversity and academic achievement. She also has active teaching and research programs.