Meet Our New Alumni President

Swearing in of Sandra Thomas as President of the Alumni
Association and member of the SUU Board of Trustees

On August 22, 2014, Sandra Lord Thomas ('93) became president of the Southern Utah University Alumni Association and was sworn in as a new member of the SUU Board of Trustees. She replaces Mark Russell ('74) who provided eight years of tremendous service to SUU and the Alumni Association.

Sandra holds a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Educational Leadership with a cognate in Public Administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV). Her Masters in Education and Bachelors Degree in Communications are both from Southern Utah University.

Currently, Thomas is a senior facilitator for Strategic Planning Seminars. As such,
she evaluates all types of organizations and identifies primary strategic planning
processes to advance organizational directions, optimize future potentials, and
improve organizational relationships and interpersonal interactions with
stakeholders. As well, Thomas manages a small investment organization which
capitalizes on current trends in areas such as real estate, venture capitalism, and
business acquisition.

Thomas has been an instructor of the Department of Educational Leadership at
Northern Arizona University and continues to be an active member of the
Association for the Study of Higher Education, American Association for Higher
Education, and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education. Her
research interests include public policy and practice, organizational theory and
leadership, strategic planning and organization, governing boards and
presidencies, and educational recruitment, retention and persistent patterns.

Before moving to Mohave County almost fifteen years ago, Thomas served as
Southern Utah University’s Director and Associate Director of School Relations for
over 7 years. During that time she was responsible for enrollment management
processes including recruitment, marketing, and public relations. She directed
and founded the Admissions Adviser Program, the Sanctuary Scholarship
Competition, Quest Leadership Seminars, and the Spring Leadership Competition.
Thomas also served as the Director of the Utah Governor’s Honors Academy at
SUU. She worked closely with former Governor Michael O. Leavitt and organized
and facilitated the overall planning and fundraising of the academy.

In her personal world, Thomas is an avid photographer, writer, and reader. She
loves to spend time with her family and tries to live up to a recent comment made
by her teenage son, “Mom, you rock!”

Homecoming 2014 Outstanding Alumnus - Stan Parry

While thousands upon thousands of Cedar City boys and girls have used the campus of this university as their personal playground over the years, Stan Parry—honored tonight as the alumnus of the year—had, and has, a special bond to the institution. His great grandfather John Parry aided immensely as a state representative in establishing the school. And, Stan’s uncle, Forrest Parry of the class of 1941, and the inventor of the magnetic stripe card virtually everyone has in their wallet, ever proudly announced his status as an alumnus of the Branch Agricultural College.

Young Stan enjoyed his youth in the town, chasing after lizards and horny toads in what he called the wilderness of Leigh Hill, loved the night sky and glimpses of the Milky Way, and recalls fondly his attendance at the first performances of the Utah Shakespeare Festival in 1961—seated upon the grass—an experience he would repeat yearly. Following his graduation from Cedar High in 1967, he decided to stay home to study. After a year, he served an LDS mission to Germany before returning. Along the way at Southern Utah State College, he married Carol Lynne Wright, a 1971 graduate in English with a teaching certificate, and Stan shined as a Thunderbird, graduating with highest honors in 1974 in political science with a minor in German. He was elected vice president of academic affairs of the student body and was the Outstanding Student of the College of Social Sciences before heading off to law school at BYU. While there, he served as an intern for Senator Frank Moss in Washington, D.C. Just last year, he earned an LLM degree in International Business Transactions at Lazarski Faculty of Law in Warsaw, Poland.

His career has been and continues to be a diverse and colorful one, as his successes in 12 years as a prosecutor for both the Clark County District Attorney and the U.S. Department of Justice brought him both satisfaction and renown. He won convictions in a bevy of high-profile federal criminal cases, including trials involving public corruption, racketeering, tax fraud, and loan-sharking. Among his most notable cases was one that involved mobster Tony Spilotro. It was the basis for the 1995 film “Casino,” with Joe Pesci portraying the character based on Spilotro.

Stan entered the private practice of law in 1989, was a partner in several law firms, and in 2006 became a litigator and partner in Las Vegas office of the prodigious national firm of Ballard Spahr, specializing in representing companies in a wide variety of disputes, largely in the business and construction domains. Annually, he is among the very highest-rated attorneys in the state of Nevada.

He has also served as chairman of the City of Las Vegas Ethics Review Board, and as legal advisor to the Clark County Planning Commission. He has been a visiting professor at several universities in Eastern Europe, and will serve as such at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland, this November. He is a member of the SUU National Advisory Board and the Lazarski University Council of Experts, and thoroughly enjoys his work as an arbitrator for the American Arbitration Association, and as the president of the World Affairs Council of Las Vegas. The latter two functions will keep him particularly busy as he heads to retirement in the years ahead, he says. He and Carol plan to serve a mission for their church, and Stan keeps his hand in now, teaching an early morning seminary class.

One may well ask how he finds the time for all that.

Stan and Carol have four sons, Mathis, Joseph, Tyler, and John, an SUU alumnus, and a daughter, Heidi Parry Stern. They have eight grandchildren, all of whom enjoy spending time together at the Parry cabin at Brian Head. 

In all ways, Stan has distinguished himself as among the finest and most accomplished and loyal of Southern Utah University alumni, and has brought immeasurable credit to himself, his family, and his alma mater.