Dr. Sherwood Thompson, who will be the featured speaker at the 29th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemorative Unity Walk at the Historic Logan County Courthouse Friday morning, has a distinguished and impressive resume, which follows:
Dr. Sherwood Thompson has attained distinction through a lengthy and productive career, directing campus-wide diversity programs for three major Carnegie Foundation Divisions-I public research universities, as well as one regional Polytechnic university. In this capacity he has worked as a leader for university-wide diversity initiatives and multicultural programs and he led an array of leadership positions in departments that served the academic needs of diverse students; which included directing minority affairs offices, outreach programs, and campus-wide multicultural departments
Dr. Thompson was active in the civil rights movement of the late 60s in the South. He was President of the Community Action Team, a bi-racial civil rights youth organization and prior to that he served as the Field Secretary of the Grassrooters Interested in Poverty Elimination (G.R.I.P.E.) an organization born out of the Poor Peoples March in Washington, DC. In 1970 he was invited to testify before the 91st U.S. Congress Education Sub-committee on Equal Education Opportunity chaired by Senator Walter F. Mondale.
In the early 1980s, Dr. Thompson worked as the director of university-wide diversity initiatives and multicultural program in Massachusetts. Since then, he has directed the minority affairs, outreach programs, and campus-wide multicultural at four universities. He has published in the field of campus/community partnerships, effective teaching strategies, multiculturalism and has presented research papers at regional and national conferences on strategies for effective early intervention programs, school effectiveness, and multicultural organizational development. Dr. Thompson has attained distinction through his work with ethnic minority learners on college campuses. His pioneer work incorporating innovative approaches and using critical success factors for establishing institutional diversity and multicultural services on predominately white campuses is a model gaining popularity among equity administrators.
Additionally, Dr. Thompson’s strong commitment to excellence through diversity and social justice advocacy has afforded him the opportunity to travel to many countries throughout the world as a Goodwill Ambassador/United Nations Non-Governmental Organization representative. This international experience is a major asset that contributes to his ability to build coalitions and collaborative relationships with international constituencies here in the United States and abroad.
He has served as the President of The National Academy of Educational Research and is President-Elect of the Association for the Advancement of Educational Research. He currently serves as President of the Association for the Advancement of Education Research. Dr. Thompson holds a Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies from the University of South Carolina, Upstate, a Master of Education and a Doctor of Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Dr. Thompson is a professor in the College of Education at Eastern Kentucky University in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies where he conducts research and teaches courses on educational leadership, post-secondary educational trends, organizational development and race and social justice. Dr. Thompson was selected as 2013 Alumni of the Year by the University of South Carolina Upstate campus.
Dr. Thompson has written two books, one titled: Views From the Frontline: Voices of Conscience on College Campuses and he is the editor of the two volume Encyclopedia of Diversity and Social Justice. He has published 58 essays, articles, and reviews all variously concerned with education reform and social justice. Dr. Thompson is currently serving on the editorial boards of the Kentucky Journal of Excellence in College Teaching and Learning, Journal for the Advancement of Educational Research, Journal for the Advancement of Educational Research, and he is reviewer for book publishers and international and national journals.
Dr. Thompson is the former Assistant Dean of the College of Education at Eastern Kentucky University, and former Executive Director of the Model Laboratory School in Richmond.