MISSION SPOTLIGHT
Linda Coleman ’78 VSB: Discovering a Passion to Serve at Villanova Linda Coleman credits her experience as director of Villanova’s Center for Access, Success and Achievement (CASA) with transforming her life: “I can fulfill my passion, supporting CASA staff and helping them serve our students.”
It wasn’t as if Coleman was sitting idle, waiting for passion to strike. Her mother had always made it clear to Coleman that she would go to college. “My mother had to leave school to care for her mother, so this was very important to her,” said Coleman. She’d discovered an interest in accounting in high school and asked her teacher which local college had the best program. The answer? Villanova. Coleman had always done well academically—she skipped eighth grade and served as an accounting tutor while at Villanova University—but life away from her close-knit family and community did present some challenges. “Sometimes you just need a place where you can relax and not feel different or an outsider,” Coleman said. She found that place in the Office for Social Action—a precursor of today’s CASA, run by Dr. Ed Collymore ’59 VSB. In addition to her mother, Coleman credits Dr. Collymore as a major influence: “He was supportive of me as a student and provided many academic and professional development opportunities.” Coleman’s accounting degree took her to a number of companies before a chance opportunity led her back to her alma mater. After success at Deloitte, where she earned her CPA, she moved on, taking jobs at several firms, including DuPont and finally Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. “I expected to wind up as a controller or CFO one day,” Coleman said. Instead, she was approached at Air Products to become its Equal Employment/Affirmative Action officer. “They needed someone with an analytical mind to help ensure their new software [tracking staffing and hiring equity] was used effectively. I thought, ‘Why not?’”
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Villanova Business Spring 2021
Throughout her career, she stayed close to family, and continues to live in Philadelphia today. Eventually, the commute to Air Products in Allentown became onerous, and she looked for work closer to home. In 1996, she returned to Villanova as its Affirmative Action officer, working once again with Dr. Collymore—who served Villanova for 35 years and retired in 2004 as the executive director of the Office of Multicultural Affairs, which has evolved into today’s CASA. “I learned a lot from Dr. Collymore—he was a great mentor. He provided guidance about navigating Villanova and shared his wisdom about working with staff, managing the office and making connections to key administrators,” Coleman said. Coleman oversaw the transition to CASA in 2016 and is now its director, after having served as associate director of Multicultural Affairs since 2008. CASA’s mission is to help recruit, retain and graduate underrepresented, first generation and Pell-eligible students through holistic support in a culturally diverse and academically excellent environment. CASA provides students with a sense of belonging in a nurturing environment, offers opportunities for self-realization and personal development, and holds them accountable for working to the best of their abilities. Coleman said “We assign each student a CASA coach, who meets with them regularly. We provide tutoring and operate a lending library of textbooks as well as loaner laptops. The challenge is to find enough resources to support our 400-student caseload and our 50 or so walk ins. But we find a way—CASA staff are awesome. My job is to make it easy for staff to serve our students. Quite frankly, any student will at one time or another experience some challenge during their college years and need help. CASA sees these challenges first and is already positioned to help.”
