Dr. Linda Thompson is renowned as a higher education administrator and psychology professor emeritus with more than 45 years of service to her field to her credit.
SEARCY, AR, October 16, 2019 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Marquis Who's Who, the world's premier publisher of biographical profiles, is proud to present Linda Thompson, EdD, with the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award. An accomplished listee, Dr. Thompson celebrates many years' experience in her professional network, and has been noted for achievements, leadership qualities, and the credentials and successes she has accrued in her field. As in all Marquis Who's Who biographical volumes, individuals profiled are selected on the basis of current reference value. Factors such as position, noteworthy accomplishments, visibility, and prominence in a field are all taken into account during the selection process.
Dr. Thompson is renowned as a higher education administrator and psychology professor emeritus with more than 45 years of service to her field to her credit. Initially interested in a career in music and vocal performance, she initially pursued an education at Harding College, from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in music in 1972. After seeing the high dropout rates of first-year college students, she discovered an interest in counseling, and earned her Master of Education in counseling from the University of Arkansas in 1976. Dr. Thompson concluded her academic efforts with a Doctor of Education in higher education from Memphis State University in 1993.
From 1977 to 1978, Dr. Thompson worked as an adjunct instructor of sociology and psychology at Michigan Christian College of Rochester. She later flourished as a counselor and coordinated tutoring and peer mentoring programs as part of the Title IV Student Support Services program at Louisiana State University from 1981 to 1983 and at Northeast Louisiana University from 1983 to 1985. While at Northeast Louisiana University, Dr. Thompson served in the Counseling Center and offered personal counseling and study skills and career planning workshops.
Dr. Thompson subsequently held the post of an instructor of psychology and developed several programs for student success, including the Program for Academic Success, Harding's first developmental studies program, at Harding University in 1986. This program showed an increase in retention of at-risk freshman students served from 75% to 90%. In this program she designed and taught a freshman study skills course. The other programs she developed and ran were a learning center (1997-1990), the TRIO Student Support Services program (1990-2003), and the TRIO McNair Scholars program (2003-2017). She was co-PI on the grant proposal for the McNair program, securing the grant for four consecutive funding cycles before retiring in 2017. From 1986 to 2017 she found success as the director of the aforementioned university's learning assistance programs. Likewise, Dr. Thompson excelled at Harding University as an assistant professor of psychology from 1990 to 1996, an associate professor from 1996 to 2007, and a professor from 2007 to 2017, at which point she was granted emeritus status.
Dr. Thompson remains active at Harding University in student leadership and activities, continuing to sponsor the student Sign Language Club. She uses her sign language skills to interpret for the deaf at her church. An in-demand speaker in her field who has presented at numerous conferences, she serves on the editorial review board of the Journal of Developmental Education. She previously served on the editorial review board of the Journal of College Reading and Learning from 2012-2014 and the Center for Research in Developmental Education and Urban Literacy from 2001 to 2003. Moreover, Dr. Thompson was recognized as a fellow of the Council of Learning Assistance and Developmental Education Associations, which she considers to be her highest professional honor.
A role that defined her professional career for many years has been her work on accreditation of developmental education programs (coursework, tutoring, and course-based learning assistance) for the National Association for Developmental Education; she served on the NADE accreditation commission from 2003-2018, the last 10 years as chair. She is currently serving as co-editor of a revision of a book to be entitled Academic Program Evaluation Standards for Student Success in Higher Education, a compendium of best practices for college student success programs. She also continues to serve as consultant and external reviewer to programs occasionally, having most recently (June 2019) served as external reviewer for a McNair Scholars Program in Utah. She was also honored to be asked to serve on committees to review proposals for doctoral programs in developmental education in the state of Texas.
In recognition of outstanding contributions to her profession and the Marquis Who's Who community, Linda Thompson, EdD, has been featured on the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement website. Please visit www.ltachievers.com for more information about this honor.
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