A love of teaching led Dr. Thomas to leave a thriving veterinary practice to join the faculty at Fresno State. As a professor in the earlier years, his primary roles involved teaching, clinical veterinary work at the university agricultural laboratory, advising pre-veterinary students and leading practical research projects. Being a strong advocate of hands-on experience, he took a leave from the department in the fall of 2001 to direct the Solutions Center. As director of the center he led a campus-wide program which coordinates programs for teams of students seeking to answer specific, real-world problems posed by industry. As an educator, Dr. Thomas has 35 years of experience teaching animal health, infectious diseases and other pre-veterinary courses. During his first 15+ years, he was the sole advisor for pre-veterinary students in the department and faculty advisor for the Pre-Veterinary Association. In 1999, Dr. Thomas prepared a proposal for a new Animal Science GE course, which was accepted by the General Education Committee and is now available to students of all majors.