Thank you for the support, cooperation, encouragement, loyalty, time, patience, and tolerance you have given me over many years. I am sending this appeal because the success of the Dr. Athur E. Thomas Scholarship Fund is very important to me and because you have worked with me in very cooperative, conscientious ways over many years.  I have worked with many of you from the beginning of my professional career in 1962 until the present.  Many people helped me during my quest for an education.  I have never forgotten them.  They range from people at the New Central Baptist Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to retired teachers who faithfully had fundraisers to help many of us in the best way they could.  I know we will all be eternally grateful for the roles our parents, relatives, and many others played in contributing to our education. I know that you are aware that many of our young people, today, face obstacles that are different and in many respects far greater to overcome than those we confronted.  Our young people have phenomenal unlimited potential and assisting and developing them to the maximum of their potential is essential to everyone. These are just as few of the many reasons I sincerely appreciate your support of the scholarship fund. Please continue to contribute to the fund and do what you can to encourage others to lend their support.  

About Dr. Arthur E. Thomas:  A native Philadelphian, he has dedicated his entire adult life and career toward championing the cause of the poor, the oppressed, and the denied.  He has, at great personal sacrifice, fought all forms of injustices at the local, state, and federal levels.  A 1962 graduate of Central State University (CSU), Dr. Thomas is the first alumnus who returned to his alma mater to serve as its president.  He was appointed as the university’s sixth president by CSU’s Board of Trustees and served from 1985 through 1995.  He is now President Emeritus of the university.  
As an undergraduate at CSU, Dr. Thomas majored in History and earned his Bachelor of Science in Education and minored in Geology.  He later earned his Master’s in Education from Miami University in Oxford, OH, and then his Doctorate in Education from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.  Both graduate degrees focused on Educational Administration.