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 Boston, Mass. (June 26, 2012) – The Board of Trustees of Roxbury Community College has voted to recommend the appointment of Dr. Linda Edmonds Turner as interim president of the institution, effective July 2. Previously, Dr. Turner served as president of the Urban College of Boston (UCB), a two-year college that serves non-traditional students from lower-income and diverse neighborhoods throughout the city. Dr. Turner’s nomination will be submitted to the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education for its approval.
“We’re pleased to welcome Dr. Linda Edmonds Turner to Roxbury Community College,” said Anita Crawford, chair of RCC’s Board of Trustees. “Dr. Turner is well aware of the challenges and opportunities that the College and our community face, and has a record of success. We look forward to her bringing a steady presence to this important institution during a time of transition.”
Dr. Turner headed the Urban College of Boston from 2002 to 2011, where she increased enrollment by 40 percent, expanded the number of graduates who transferred to four-year colleges and universities, and dramatically enhanced the UCB’s annual fundraising initiatives with nearly $12 million in new foundation, corporate and federal grants. Additionally, she established new certificate programs, including UCB’s first science-based program in Health, Nutrition and Food Safety and Child Health Care, Safety and Nutrition. Dr. Turner also created an effective strategic planning system for the school. UCB is the first college in the nation to be established by a community action agency, Action for Boston Community Development, Inc. (ABCD).
Prior to serving as president of UCB, Dr. Turner was vice president and chief marketing officer of Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts and a Harvard University Administrative Fellow in the 1989-90 pilot class for senior higher education professionals. Before turning to higher education administration, Dr. Turner held consumer product development and senior marketing executive positions at the DuPont Company, Whirlpool Corporation, and Polaroid Corporation.
One of the first black women to enter Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the fall of 1966, Dr. Turner earned an honors B.S. degree in Clothing, Textiles and Related Art. She received a M.B.A. and Ph.D. in Business Administration from Virginia Tech as well as a M.S. degree in General Ecology from Michigan State University. She also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Higher Education Administration at Harvard University.
Dr. Turner is active on a number of community and educational boards including Treasurer of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts (AICUM); National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) Tax Policy Committee; Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s Commonwealth Readiness Project Public and Private Higher Education Subcommittee; American Council on Education (ACE) Commission on Women in Higher Education; the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce Women’s Network Advisory Board; and the Emerald Necklace Conservancy Board of Directors.
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