Sabrina Thomas, Ph.D.

Academic Dean, Campus Liaison for Davis Projects for Peace Summer Grants, Undergraduate Teaching and Academic Standards Committee of the Arts and Sciences Council.

Ph.D., Human Development & Family Studies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Senior Associate Dean, Trinity College

Originally from the great state of Georgia, my higher education journey began as a first-generation college student at Tuskegee University where I earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. After completing my master’s in Early Childhood Psychological Development from the University of Rochester, I attended the Universidad de Salamanca, Spain, to complete a Certificate of Language and Cultural Studies. Centering human development as a by-product of sociopolitical and economic factors within environmental systems, I later earned a doctorate in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

Before coming to Duke as an academic dean, I served as the director of the Harlem Adolescence Pregnancy Prevention Program in the Department of Pediatrics at Harlem Hospital and later as a professor of human development and family studies at North Carolina Central University where I taught courses in developmental psychology and family and social systems. I also served as the advisor and academic coordinator for departmental majors. My teaching and research examining the impact of material culture and social systems on identity development has been funded by grants from the Ford Foundation, Fulbright, the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

My hobbies include doll collecting, language study, and walking.  

It is with much gratitude and humility that I witness students' development throughout their undergraduate careers, and remain steadfast in my commitment to being a supportive resource in helping them reach their ultimate goal of a Duke undergraduate degree.