Distinguished Alumni Award
Amy Thompson '97
2026 Distinguished Alumni Award:
Amy Thompson
1997, The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions, Public Education and Health Promotion
Bachelor of Science in public health education and health promotion, 1997, The Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions
The Division of University Engagement and Student Affairs honors an outstanding graduate who served as a student leader or employee while on the Mount Pleasant campus. The recipient is distinguished for their campus contributions and post-graduation commitment.
As executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at Oakland University, Amy Thompson, Ph.D., leads the academic enterprise of an entire university. She is also quick to tell people where it started: Central Michigan University.
A first-generation college student, Amy arrived at CMU unsure of her direction and left with a profession and a community. While earning her bachelor’s degree in public health, she led her sorority, Alpha Sigma Alpha, as president and served as president of the public health student organization Eta Sigma Gamma, which earned the national group’s top chapter honor during her tenure. The public health faculty who taught her, she says, remain part of her professional DNA.
From CMU, Amy went on to earn a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Toledo, where she joined the faculty and rose through academic leadership roles, including vice provost of faculty affairs, faculty senate president, and senior vice provost of academic affairs and acting dean of the College of Graduate Studies. She later served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at Wright State University before returning to Michigan in 2025 — after 25 years away — to become provost at Oakland University, where she leads eight colleges and schools, the OUWB School of Medicine, the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, and the OU Eye Institute.
A full professor, Amy has built a national reputation in public health alongside her administrative career, with more than 80 publications, over 150 peer-reviewed presentations and more than $1.7 million in grant funding. She has served as president of the Society for Public Health Education and as national president of Eta Sigma Gamma — the same organization she once led as a CMU undergraduate — and in 2026 was named a SOPHE Distinguished Fellow by the Society for Public Health Education. As founder of the Center for Health and Successful Living, she built an interdisciplinary model that connected students with more than 7,000 community members, including underrepresented cancer survivors.
Through every move, Amy has stayed close to CMU. She has returned as the Elizabeth Lockwood Wheeler lecturer and as speaker for the Loren B. Bensley Jr. Public Health Awards Banquet, where she also received the Bensley Honor Award — the highest recognition CMU’s Eta Sigma Gamma chapter gives to a professional. She supports the Jodi Brookins Fisher Professional Development Fund, which helps public health students attend conferences, and she has guest-lectured repeatedly in CMU’s public health policy and advocacy course, including during her year as SOPHE president. She has mentored CMU students and brought several on as interns, and as Oakland’s provost, she now works with CMU Provost Paula Lancaster to build new partnerships between the two universities.
Wherever she speaks or is honored, Amy credits the university that gave her a start — usually with a spirited “Fire Up Chips!” For her, being a CMU Chippewa means giving back to the place that helped her find her purpose, and making sure the next generation of students can find theirs.
The Central Michigan University Alumni Association is proud to recognize Amy Thompson, Ph.D., with the 2026 Distinguished Alumni Award.
