Linda Bates Parker Receives Alumni Association Mosaic Award

Among the seven people being honored with Alumni Association awards is our own founding "Ma Parker." 

From the announcement of honorees:

Linda Bates Parker, A&S ’70 (presented posthumously)

Linda Bates Parker was the director of UC’s Career Development Center for 22 years until her passing on December 10, 2009.

“A piece of Linda lives on in the hearts and minds of those she touched, and because of that, the world will be a better place,” said Dr. Bleuzette Marshall, senior director of development for UC’s Provost & Student Affairs offices, who nominated Parker.

Parker grew up in Cincinnati’s West End and was able to attend college at the University of Dayton solely because of a scholarship she received. She would repay that scholarship by earning a master’s degree at UC and becoming a pioneer in business and higher education, as well as a passionate ambassador for diversity and equality.

A cherished fixture on the UC campus for more than three decades, Parker was well liked and respected in her work throughout the UC community and recognized as an excellent leader and engaging teacher. A Distinguished Faculty Fellow who helped develop some of UC’s first distance-learning courses, Parker also taught a popular Managing Diversity in the Workplace course within the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences throughout most of the last decade. Her recommendations helped lay the groundwork for the university-wide Diversity Task Force, and her commitment and follow-through earned her many awards as a champion of diversity in principle and in action.