Linda Jackson Chalmers '73

Educator Linda Jackson Chalmers '73 is a longtime Skidmore alumna volunteer.  She served as class agent and Journey Campaign volunteer, and was appointed to the College's Board of Trustees in 1991, a position she continues to hold today. During her tenure on the board, she has served on the Budget and Finance, Academic Affairs, Special Programs, Long-range Planning, and Student Life committees. She is a stalwart advocate of fostering diversity on campus and promoting the excellence of the AOP and HEOP programs.

Linda's Skidmore experience has been a major influence on her life, fostering her development as "a leader and an individual with a spirit and belief that anything and everything is possible—I am truly grateful to have selected Skidmore as my college choice and to have been embraced and recognized throughout my adult life by this special and unique college community."

Linda forged a career teaching art at the Arbor Hill Elementary School. As district chair of art for Albany Public Schools grades K-8 and art chair at Livingston Middle School, she helped revive the Parent Teacher Organization and supported Livingston through a school improvement process.  While principal of Arbor Hill from 1986 to 1998, she galvanized every community resource available, instituting holistic programs that offered and built student self-esteem, family involvement,  career awareness, and extended-day learning opportunities.  Linda was honored with a surprise "Principal's Day" by Arbor Hill students for her successful efforts to have New York State name Arbor Hill a community school—a designation that garnered the school additional state funding to expand special programs to heighten student achievement.

As a major force on the Commission on Minority Access of the Hudson-Mohawk Consortium of Colleges and Universities, she continues to work to increase the enrollment of students of color at regional institutions, especially Skidmore.  In her current role as assistant superintendent of schools for human resources and community relations, Linda continues this very same effort to bring diversity to the teaching workforce so that the Albany School District can better reflect the cultural and global diversity of its student population.

Linda has served on the board of directors of many Capital District organizations. Currently she serves on the board of trustees for the Albany Institute of History and Art, and is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and the Albany District Links. Among her many honors are the Hudson-Mohawk Association Presidents' Award (for which she was nominated by former  Skidmore President David Porter), the Urban League