Slocomb

“Trust me, I am more interesting than I look,” said Tom Slocomb, associate professor of business administration and education. “I have become increasingly open-minded. I try to have a sense of humor and a lighthearted attitude.”

Slocomb said that he thinks the world seems more magical all the time, and there is so much to be thankful for.

“I have known Tom for nine years, I consider him to be a friend, to have a very good and refined sense of humor, to be a very friendly and caring person,” said Kevin Johnson, associate professor of business administration and education.

Having lived in Ohio, Louisiana and several places in between, Slocomb generally thinks of himself as a midwesterner. He graduated from Tulane University in Louisiana with a degree in Psychology, earned an MBA at Southern Illinois University and a PhD in business administration at the University of Missouri – Columbia.

The Business school at Emporia State is accredited by the AASCB – an accreditation held by less than one-third of business schools in the U.S.With confidence in the quality of faculty and facilities of the Business School at ESU, Slocomb came to Emporia.

Slocomb spent most of his life living in big cities, never imagining he would come to such a rural setting.

“My dad grew up in a farming family in Peabody, Kansas,” Slocomb said.

Slocomb said that he feels Kansas is the friendliest state he has lived in.

“And it’s a nice change from the tense and sometimes hostile atmosphere in big cities. I am starting to feel like a Kansan. It is a good feeling,” Slocomb said.

Slocomb took a job with the University of Missouri presenting training seminars for business people and consulting assistance for business owners before he started his college-teaching life.

“I enjoyed this, but I thought I would enjoy teaching in college classrooms even more,” Slocomb said.

Slocomb taught at University of Central Oklahoma before and now he has 19 years of professional teaching experience. This year is his ninth year at ESU.

“I love (ESU),” Slocomb said. “I have learned that the most important thing is my relationships with other people, and that’s what I love about working at ESU – all the different people.”

Working with international students has been a wonderful experience for Slocomb, and there are students from seven different countries in one of his classes. He structures students diversely and emphasizes the importance of learning from other students.

“Here, they can make friends from Africa, Europe, Asia, South America and so on,” Slocomb said.

Slocomb encourages everyone to act as a communication facilitator, carefully listening and helping each other understand.

“(Slocomb) is the kind of person who you could talk about anything and he would listen and he would care about whatever you are talking about,” Johnson said.

As international students come here with varying degrees of English proficiency, Slocomb stresses that there is no reason for anyone to be embarrassed or critical in these situations. Instead, he says they should be treated with patience and respect.

“If anyone has this attitude, then ‘communication difference’ will become an interesting and even enjoyable process,” Slocomb said.

“Dr. Slocomb is very diligent and thoughtful,” said Alexis Downs, associate professor and interim chair of the accounting and information systems. “He is sensitive to detail, and he would have made a great accountant.”

With the enjoyment of international culture and communication, Slocomb loves international food.

“I particularly like Indian food,” Slocomb said.“There is an Indian bread called ‘Naan,’ it’s wonderful when it’s right out of oven.”

Slocomb wants to travel Asia and enjoys seeing some of the scenery in the U.S.

“It amazes me to get on an airplane and get off thousands of miles away from where I started,”Slocomb said.

Slocomb also enjoys playing music, singing, reading and photography. His main instrument is guitar, and now he is learning piano.

“(Slocomb) knows something about everything, and he is a very creative person, a fine musician and a song writer,” Johnson said.

Putting so much time and energy into work and diverse interests, Slocomb said he feels there is not enough left over to be a good parent or pet owner.

“Some of my goals are to continue to become more effective working with students, to have a more complete understanding of reality and what really matters, to have a healthy lifestyle, to develop as a musician, and to enjoy every moment,” he said.

Send article as PDF to