Devon Thomas, now into his third year as an administrator in the Eastern Washington University athletic department, will be the diversity and inclusion designee as part of a new requirement by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
 
Thomas has been on campus since March of 2018. The expanded duties for Thomas include serving as the primary contact and conduit for diversity and inclusion-related information. The requirement came via legislation passed by the NCAA recently, and goes into effect on Aug. 1, 2020.
 
"We look forward to having Devon in this leadership role to help us solidify our commitment to diversity and inclusion for our students and staff," said EWU Associate Vice President/Director of Athletics Lynn Hickey. "We are excited to begin developing action plans that will continue to open up communication lines so that our students have a voice, and to develop programming to improve our training and education for our whole department.  We are committed to having an impact on our campus and community through active leadership and collaboration with our peers and colleagues."
 
"Our teams, department and university have already had guest speakers and open forums in support of diversity and inclusion, and we look forward to continuing those discussions," she added. "Developing these values are important in our pursuit of providing a safe and inclusive space for all."
 
The NCAA's wording for the new legislation is as follows: The designation of an athletics diversity and inclusion designee symbolically and practically represents the Association's recognition of inclusion as a core value. It also supports the Presidential Pledge and Commitment to Promoting Diversity and Gender Equity in Intercollegiate Athletics. It is the responsibility of each member institution to establish and maintain an environment that values cultural diversity and gender equity as acknowledged in Constitution 2.2.2 (Cultural Diversity and Gender Equity). While the NCAA national office provides valuable resources and programming to support the membership's efforts toward creating and maintaining inclusive environments, often institutional and conference personnel are not aware of available resources or opportunities. This proposal seeks to create a network of colleagues who will serve as conduits for consistent and thorough dissemination of diversity and inclusion-related information between conference offices, campuses, athletics departments and the NCAA.
 
 
More on Thomas . . .
 
Devon Thomas enters his third full season as an EWU Athletics administrator in the 2020-21 school year, with the current title of Deputy Athletic Director for External Operations (previously Senior Associate Athletics Director for External Affairs).

His responsibilities include overseeing annual development, marketing, communications and ticket operations. Thomas serves as the liaison to Eagles Sports Properties, a Learfield Sports Property which is the athletic department's multimedia rights holder. Effective Aug. 1, 2020, Thomas will also become be the department's diversity and inclusion designee as part of a new requirement by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The duties include serving as the primary contact and conduit for diversity and inclusion-related information.
 
Prior to arriving in Cheney, Thomas served as the Assistant Athletic Director for Spokane Operations with Washington State University since 2014. He led WSU Athletics development and engagement efforts in the Spokane Region of over 900 donors and $1.47 million in annual contributions.
 
Thomas has been indirectly connected to Eastern for some time now, as his son, Joshua, is a former student-athlete (men's basketball) and graduate of EWU. His wife, Melanie, currently works on campus as a Retention and Advising Specialist. The couple were in Frisco, Texas, in 2010 when Eastern Football won the NCAA Division I-AA National Championship as Melanie led the academic support unit within EWU Athletics at that time.
 
Before WSU, Thomas spent two years as the Assistant Athletic Director for Annual Giving at the University of Louisville and four years as the Director of Annual Giving for Gonzaga Athletics. At both institutions, he served as the senior annual fund staff member tasked with the oversight and growth of their respective annual development efforts.  
 
Prior to arriving at Gonzaga in 2009, Thomas led the marketing efforts at the University of Central Florida as the Assistant Athletic Director after spending four years at the University of Idaho. Thomas began his time with the Vandals as the Assistant Marketing Director and Community Outreach, and was then promoted to the Director of Marketing and Licensing in 2006.
 
While at Idaho, Thomas developed and executed strategic marketing plans for Idaho's 16 NCAA Division I sports and also served as the athletic department's liaison with multimedia rightsholder Learfield Sports and website host JumpTV. His responsibilities also included oversight of collegiate licensing.
 
A native of Jacksonville, Fla., Thomas is a former student-athlete (football) and graduate of the University of Louisville, where he played for former Idaho head coach John L. Smith. Eastern alumnus and former assistant football coach Jim McElwain was also on the Louisville coaching staff. Thomas began his administrative career at his alma mater, spending time in both development and marketing, spearheading many of Louisville's former student-athlete initiatives.
 
Besides Joshua, Devon and Melanie have a younger son, Brandon.