Anyone familiar with Gerald Thomas' 1983 book, Everything I Know About University Administration, will be happy to hear he has written a sequel.

The Academic Ecosystem is a look at the issues that shape a university - particularly those that have shaped New Mexico State University for the past 100 years - through the lens of Thomas" 14 years as NMSU president.

Like the earlier book, this one bears the former president's trademark sense of humor, but that's where one ends and the other begins. An explanation is in order:

"I started on this book when I retired, right after I published this one," Thomas says, grinning as he reaches toward a bookshelf in the office he maintains at NMSU's Center for International Programs. He pulls out a copy of Everything I Know About University Administration, writes a note on the book's soft cover ("See page 27") and hands it over.

Page 27, it turns out, is blank, like every other page in the book except the title page and table of contents. Thomas suspects that some recipients of the book stuck it on a shelf without ever opening it wide enough to get the joke.

If they do that with his current book, they'll be missing a lot. Subtitled "Issues Emerging in a University Environment," the 300-page tome is a wealth of history and insight. From weighty issues ("Hiring and Firing the President") to quirky ones ("The Tissue Issue," a protracted campaign to replace flat-sheet dispensers with roll-type tissue in campus restrooms), Thomas takes an ecologist's view of academia.

"The dictionary definition of a university is much too restrictive," he explains. "I call it the academic ecosystem because you have the interaction of biological resources, which are your students, faculty and staff; physical resources, your land, buildings, labs and facilities; and financial resources, which are the nutrients for the ecosystem."

Together these create an academic climate that "if functioning correctly, contributes to the advancement, transfer and preservation of knowledge," Thomas says. "But there will be a certain amount of pollution and perturbation, and there are even some endangered species."

Thomas Gale, dean emeritus of the College of Arts and Sciences, notes in a foreword that NMSU's student body grew from 7,608 students to 12,786 during Thomas' presidency. Research funding grew from $17.4 million to nearly $63 million, and NMSU joined the elite group of universities classified by the Carnegie Foundation as Research I institutions.

The book is not limited to Thomas' tenure, however. It spans more than 100 years, from Hiram Hadley's presidency until nearly the present time.

"It's amazing how many issues arise over and over again when you look at it historically," says Thomas, who acknowledges drawing heavily on Simon Kropp's book That All May Learn, former president Roger Corbett's unpublished manuscript and documents in the Rio Grande Historical Collections for much of the history.

"Take financial retrenchment, for example. We think we've got it tough now, but in 1933 faculty and staff salaries had to be reduced and President Kent graciously accepted a 25 percent reduction in his own salary. Now that's financial retrenchment!"

President Emeritus Gerald Thomas shares his observations of academia in his book, The Academic Ecosystem. (Photo by Michael Kiernan)

While the book is issue-oriented, it is liberally sprinkled with an insider's view of the "perturbations" that sometimes afflict the academic ecosystem. "The Tissue Issue," for example, merits a short chapter of its own. Fomented by "Cow Chip" Williams (Jess Williams, '85, '97, then editor of The Round Up and now public information officer for Dona Ana County), the tissue controversy remained unresolved when Thomas retired. Thomas writes that when he forwarded a copy of a "Cow Chip" Williams editorial to the physical plant director, along with a sympathetic memo, he got back a "complicated two-page memo listing an amazing array of problems associated with the change" in tissue types.

Not until eight years after Thomas' retirement were restrooms across campus converted to roll-type tissues. The president emeritus was awarded one of the hated little square dispensers mounted on a plaque that read: "Presented to Dr. Gerald W. Thomas for his outstanding leadership and enthusiasm in leading us successfully through the Tissue Issue Wars of 1970 to 1992."

"Another example of the efficiency of the academic bureaucracy!" Thomas notes.

Photos from the NMSU Archives provide the visual treats in The Academic Ecosystem, which was designed and typeset by Thomas' son David of Arlington, Texas. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the book will go to the NMSU Alumni Association and the Rio Grande Historical Collections at NMSU.

This charitable approach is in keeping with other books Thomas has published over the years, including Torpedo Squadron Four, Victory in World War II: The New Mexico Story, and In Celebration of the Teacher, each of which benefited a university cause.

As for the other book, Everything I Know About University Administration, maybe now the author can put away the "REVISED EDITION" stamp he has been using to bring it instantly up to date. The Academic Ecosystem should serve the purpose nicely.

Karl Hill

First Founder's Award presented to Thomas

President Emeritus Gerald W. Thomas received NMSU's first Hiram Hadley Founder's Award of Excellence at a Board of Regents meeting in September.

"Hiram Hadley was a great educational leader and builder and so has been Gerald Thomas," President William B. Conroy said in presenting the award. Under Thomas' leadership as president from 1970 to 1984, "our university went through an unparalleled period of growth and development," Conroy said.

The award recognizes Thomas for "his key leadership in the development of a major comprehensive university in the spirit of NMSU's founding leader."

Since retiring from the presidency, Thomas has served as consultant for the Consortium for International Development, several universities and the U.S. Agency for International Development. He also served a six-year term on the New Mexico State Board of Education.

Karl Hill

To order Dr. Gerald Thomas' book The Academic Ecosystem click here.