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The Spectator
Trustee Corner: Linda Johnson '80
by Nick Stagliano '11Production Editor
October 30, 2009
In an effort to better inform the Hamilton community about who the trustees of the College are, this week begins a series of feature stories on members of the board.
Before entering college, Linda Johnson '80 could not have imagined the path she would take while at Hamilton. She applied to the school for many reasons but, "Hamilton was especially appealing because it had a skating rink," an important detail for Johnson, who had skated all through high school. In the end, Johnson ended up skating very little at Hamilton, choosing to pursue other opportunities available to her there instead: She played four years of tennis, studied abroad in London, changed majors several times (ultimately settling on American Studies) and discovered the many benefits of the Hamilton experience. Johnson said, "If I were to say one thing about my experience, the beauty of a liberal arts education is the opportunity it gives you to expose yourself to things that you might never have known existed, and I made the most of that."
Her path after Hamilton was anything but straightforward; after graduating, Johnson received a law degree and practiced environmental and education law in New Jersey for six years. In 1990, she left the practice and joined her family's business – an information services company beginning to explore electronic delivery of information. This piqued Johnson's interest in libraries as she wondered how they were affected by this revolution in information transfer, and she started volunteering at the Philadelphia's Free Library, ultimately joining the board. After selling her business, she became Chief Executive Officer of the Free Library of Philadelphia Foundation, where she stayed until January 2009, when she left to lead the National Constitution Center.
The Center is dedicated to increasing the public understanding of and appreciation for the history and contemporary relevance of the Constitution and the values enshrined in it. As part of the Center's mission of national and international outreach to teach people about civic engagement, the Center has recently become involved in developing constitutional environments in newly democratic societies, such as Afghanistan. By creating partnerships between U.S. and international schools, producing voter guides and encouraging and promoting programs that teach civic values, the Center is helping people in the U.S. and around the world to better understand the freedoms they struggled and continue to fight for – whether their governments were established 200 years ago or are still in evolution.
Johnson's commitment to education is not limited to her professional activities. For the past eleven years, Johnson has served as a member of the Hamilton College Board of Trustees, first as an alumni trustee (1998-2002), and currently as a charter trustee (2002-present). One of Johnson's primary roles on the board is chairman of the Buildings, Grounds and Equipment (BG&E) Committee – the committee that decides on all the major issues of the campus infrastructure including renovations and new building needs. Johnson sees BG&E as "a balancing act. We're trying to balance the dollars that we have between the Physical Plant and all of the competing needs that the College has. We have an ambitious plan and it's tricky to make it all come together."
BG&E has been involved from the beginning of the Emerson Hall (ELS) renovation. Johnson calls it a "great project," and adds that, "the Residential Life Decision (1995), focused the College on its commitment to building a campus that is vibrant and fun for students to live in, and ELS is one more step toward that end. It's a great location and a beautiful building that we will bring back to its former luster. And it's a space that students seem to be clamoring for."
ELS will fill a growing need for spaces for student collaboration, which Johnson considers very important: "One thing that has changed a lot since my time at Hamilton is the way students work." As she found while planning an expansion for the Central Library of the Free Library of Philadelphia system, "The library was once a place where you would go and work by yourself. Now the model is different. To meet demand, we're creating spaces where work can be done collaboratively – relevant spaces for students that reflect how they work and study."
Another BG&E project is the proposed expansion and renovation of the arts facilities at Hamilton, to which, Johnson says, the College is as committed as ever. She especially has been a supporter of the project, based on her strong belief in Hamilton's ability to allow students to get involved in the arts and other activities while on the Hill, even if they haven't been involved before. Johnson believes in the benefits of a liberal arts institution and counts Hamilton's dedication to providing excellent teaching among its greatest strengths. "It's easier to teach students who know that this is what they want to learn about. The trick is teaching students who arrive on campus without much background or a clear idea about their future." As a student who came to Hamilton with an open mind and who pursued things she had little or no experience in, Johnson knows first-hand the benefits of stretching one's boundaries and hopes that others will find the experience as rewarding as she did. Addressing the question of what the College could do better, she says, "We're always striving to do better. We never rest on our laurels. We're never satisfied, and that's one of the best things about our board."
Right now, the board is busy examining the social fabric of Hamilton, which is especially important for a residential campus. Says Johnson, "Admissions is constantly evaluating how to put together the very best class that we can... A commitment to diversity does not compromise those values. We're still looking for the very best students and the people who will make the greatest contributions to the Hamilton community." She adds that having a diverse student body "makes for a more interesting community and a better experience for both students and professors."
Johnson says, "Of the various aspects of what I would call the community service piece of my life, I enjoy serving on the Hamilton board more than anything else. It's a very good board. The members are committed to making Hamilton the very best that it can be – that's the only reason they serve on the board and make significant commitments of their time, expertise and money. It's a pleasure to do the work."