Thomas Tlou (1 June 1932 – 28 June 2010) was a Botswana academic and historian, and former representative of Botswana at the United Nations. Tlou was born in Gwanda in the then Southern Rhodesia in 1932. Tlou was the first Motswana (Botswana citizen) to be vice-chancellor of the University of Botswana, serving from 1985 to 1998. Thereafter he continued at the same university as professor of history, finally retiring in 2006. He was married to Professor Sheila Tlou, Botswana's minister of health from 2004 to 2008 and a former associate professor of nursing at the University of Botswana.