Tom is a lifelong resident of Erie County, Pa. He received his BA in Art Education from Mercyhurst University and his MFA in Ceramics and Ceramic Sculpture with a Minor in Photography from the School for the American Craftsman at Rochester Institute of Technology. Tom, a Professor of Art, has been teaching art at Mercyhurst University for the past 36 years and was the Director of the Art Department from 1992 to 2001 and Chair of the Art Department from 2003 to 2008. His resume includes 15 awards in national and regional exhibitions including the Pennsylvania Council of Arts Grant and a National Endowment for the Arts/Mid-Atlantic Art Foundation Regional Fellowship. He has had 12 one-person exhibitions between 2001 and 2015. His resume lists a wide array of juried, invitational, national, regional and local exhibitions.