Dr Thomas Saylor (History) has served as Faculty Athletics Representative at Concordia since 2012. He earned a B.S. in Management and Marketing and an M.A. in History from the University of Akron (Ohio), and a Ph.D. in History from the University of Rochester. Currently he also serves as CSP’s Institutional Grants Manager.
As FAR, Thomas has attended the select FAR Institute (2014) and Advanced Institute (2015); served on and chaired the NCAA Research Committee (2020-23); and been active on several Northern Sun Conference committees. He has also served for many years as official scorer for men's and women's basketball.
Active professionally in the field of oral history for more than 20 years, Thomas has authored or co-authored three books: Remembering the Good War (2005); Long Hard Road: American POWs During World War II (2007); and Minnesota in the ‘70s (2013). He has partnered with Twin Cities Public Television for two documentaries, written numerous articles and reviews, and presented at professional conferences. Thomas was also selected to write the official oral history of Gen John W Vessey, Jr, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under President Ronald Reagan; this project was completed in 2016. Finally, Thomas researched and authored a history on CSP during the years 1993 – 2018 and also researched and presented at several professional conferences on the 2020 US presidential election.
Away from work, Thomas enjoys road cycling, travel, good books, interesting beers, and the Twins and Timberwolves. He is an appointed member of the City of St Paul’s Heritage Preservation Commission, an advisory body to the Mayor and the City Council on municipal heritage preservation matters. And he served as a team leader for Habitat for Humanity's Global Village program from 2012 – 2020, working in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Thomas and his wife Dr. Kimberly Johnson reside in St. Paul.
