Professor Carlos Thomas is one of the sharpest, most powerful black men on earth. Sitting on two Ph.D.s (not one), Thomas has built a career that embraces the essence of the black academic warrior. Not only is he typically the sharpest man in the room, he is a living personification of the essence of what it means to be a black man in America: To love your family, teach the children around you (not just your own) and to stand a stand for what is right. It is because he has chosen to live a life full of power and purpose that Dr. Thomas is today's Dr. Boyce Watkins Spotlight on AOL Black Voices:


What is your name, and what do you do?

My name is Carlos A. Thomas, and I am an assistant professor of information systems and operations management at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., father of three and husband to one!

What is your personal, professional and educational background?

I'm a native of West Tennessee and was raised by my mother and maternal grandparents. I spent most of my childhood growing up in rural Dyersburg, Tenn., and moved to Memphis at 16 when my mother remarried after my father's death. After completing high school, I attended Vanderbilt University on an athletic scholarship and completed my degree in human and organizational development. During my time at Vanderbilt, I began the process of becoming racially and socially conscious about society. This was due in part to the positive influence of hip-hop artists such as Public Enemy, Paris and X-clan. My professors at Vanderbilt and Fisk also had a profound impact on my social consciousness, particularly Dr. Jimmie L. Franklin, Dr. Lewis V. Baldwin, Dr. Ray Windbush and Dr. L.M. Collins.

After graduation, I wanted to leave the South to experience a different part of the country, so I took a job in Philadelphia teaching conflict resolution skills to elementary school students through the Student Anti-Violence Education (SAVE) program established by Julie Rausch and Deborah Spungen. That year away from my comfort zone was more difficult than anything I had experienced, and I grew exponentially as a result. I learned how to cook ramen noodles every way imaginable (lol). While the experience was difficult, it was a great growing experience and helped to prepare me to be a leader for my family.

After a year in Philadelphia, I returned back to Tennessee to visit family and, by coincidence, was offered a job teaching and coaching football and tennis. Simultaneous to working as a public school teacher and coach, I completed a master's degree in sociology with a concentration in race, class and gender studies. I LOVED my time in this program. The professors at the University of Memphis were exceptional and helped me to further develop my level of consciousness about society. After completing the program I returned to Nashville and enrolled as a part-time student at Tennessee State University in the doctoral program in public administration taking classes in the evening while working as a social worker charged with the responsibility of reunifying families whose children had been placed in the State's custody.

After completing my coursework for the doctorate in public administration, I received an offer to work at Louisiana State University in their academic support center for student athletes. I took the position with the intention of staying three years maximum to complete a second masters in information systems and decision sciences. Well, twelve years later, I'm still here. During my tenure in Baton Rouge, I completed the second masters in ISDS, the doctorate in public administration from TSU, and a second doctorate in information systems and decision sciences at LSU. My time as a professor at Southern University teaching information systems and operations management has been rewarding and challenging. In addition to teaching, I conduct research on health care and technology in developing countries, specifically in Sub-Saharan Africa.

How did your experience as a former athlete shape the way you view black males, sports and the NCAA?

If you ask former football players who played D-1 football how they feel about their experiences playing at their respective universities, I bet you 75% will tell you they have mixed feelings about their experiences as a student on an athletic scholarship. Similarly, I too have a love-hate perspective about my time as a student on an athletic scholarship. My best friendships were forged during my time as an athlete-student and the challenges I endured during training and competition have served me well in meeting life challenges. However, there were significant tradeoffs associated with my choice to pay for college by playing football.

One such trade-off is that I really didn't get an opportunity to fully experience college life as a result of having time commitments to the football program. The NCAA's 20 hour rule is a joke, and no program really adheres to it. As such, we had voluntary warm up sessions before practice which was actually a way to get us to practice without starting the time clock. I could go on and on but suffice it to say, we spent a disproportionate amount of time training for competition.

So....let's talk about the NCAA......

I have increasingly developed a strong disdain for the farce the NCAA puts on for the country. The notion that D-1 football and men's basketball is amateur is completely laughable! We live in a capitalist society, and I'm a compassionate capitalist. So, I say make your money, but don't act like this is amateur competition. When football coaches are making $5 million a year, it ain't amateur!!! Ask the coach's wife if it's amateur, lol! I really think Dr. Emmert, who I admire a great deal, and the rest of the folks at the NCAA should really address the issue of what D-1 sports has become: athletic share-cropping! It's crazy man!

Teaching at LSU allowed me to see the good and the not-so-good in college sports. I've had the pleasure of meeting some of the sharpest brothers in the world who just happen to play sports. Collis Temple, III, Tyrus Thomas, Rahem Alem, Trev Faulk and Garret Temple were just a few of the guys I've seen at LSU who defied the stereotype of the big dumb jock! Collis graduated in 3 years and by the time his eligibility was up he had a masters degree, as did Rahem. Trev Faulk graduated with honors in 3 years with a degree in business and went on to play in the NFL before returning to Louisiana. The day after LSU won their Elite Eight game to advance to the final four in 2006, which was a Sunday, Garrett and Tyrus were in study hall at 12:00 noon! Not hung over from celebrating the win but in study hall to prepare for mid-term exams! Great young men indeed!

Looking to the future, I pray my son chooses not to play college football or football period! But if he chooses then I'll support him, but my fingers are crossed!

You have a genuine interest in the success of the black male. How does this influence your approach to academic work?

I thought that when I stopped being a social worker that I would stop doing "social work." Nothing could be further from the truth! I find myself having to counsel our young people on the basics of what is acceptable academically and socially! I take a tough-love approach to my profession. Having worked internationally as an auditor and consultant, I have globalization up close and personal! Folks in other countries are working their behinds off to get ahead while our young people sit idle preoccupied with foolishness like "The Basketball Wives." Man, I was in Cameroun last year at a conference on IT development in Sub-Saharan Africa, and I met two young men who took a boat from Accra, Ghana, to get to the conference. They had no money and no place to stay, but they wanted to learn so badly that they rode on a boat to get to the conference. Bruh, it brought tears to my eyes. So when I see something like that, I have little patience for laziness. Thus, I hold my students to high standards, and they meet them!

Do you have any advice for aspiring young African Americans who wish to follow in your footsteps?

Get out of America and see the world! You are loved beyond these borders and admired beyond anything you could have imagined! GO SEE THE WORLD! Study as much and as long as you can and defer life responsibilities as long as possible.

Is there anything else you'd like to share with our AOL Black Voices audience?

Yeah, if you're up for challenges and want to do some social engineering, come to the South! This really is still one of the last social frontiers in our society and the need for motivated progressive minded young people is arguably greater today than in the civil rights era of the 1960s. Peace!!!!!

Dr. Boyce Watkins is the founder of the Your Black World Coalition and the author of the bookBlack American Money To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here. To suggest a subject for a Dr. Boyce Watkins Spotlight, please click here. To follow Dr. Boyce on Facebook, please click here.