Decades after attending a community college and getting his own start in higher education, California’s Rio Hondo College counselor Julius B. Thomas works to give back to the system that gave so much to him, he said.
“Every day, I work to show every student the same dedication, perseverance, and ambition that I witnessed from educators during my community college experience,” Thomas told NEA Representative Assembly (RA) delegates.
For this dedication, Thomas was selected by NEA’s National Council for Education (NCHE) as the 2021 Higher Educator of the Year, a $10,000 award funded by the NEA Foundation. Thomas, who has served as a member of the NEA Board of Directors and on California’s Community College Association board, where he was a director of the Ethnic, Racial and Minority Identity Committee, also is this year’s winner of NCHE’s James Davenport Memorial Award, which recognizes a member’s service to the union and spirit of collaboration.
“I’m proud to represent my colleagues,” and also grateful to NCHE for establishing the Higher Educator of the Year award in 2018, Thomas said. But, he added, the true rewards of higher education are found in the work of educating students.
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