Faculty Friday: Linda Shopes

Our "Faculty Friday" series highlights one faculty member from the Welch Center every Friday. We ask these faculty members about their career, their work, and what they love about Goucher.

This week's faculty member: 
Linda Shopes
Adjunct Lecturer, M.A. in Cultural Sustainability

Where are you from?

From Connecticut; currently live in Carlisle, PA; longtime resident of Baltimore, MD.

Tell us about your first job in the cultural sustainability field.

I'm a historian who specializes in oral and public history. My first job with a sustainability intent was doing oral history for the Baltimore Neighborhood Heritage Project, a project out of the University of Baltimore in the 1970s and 1980s, the intent of which was to assert the viability of blue collar neighborhoods in the face of encroaching gentrification.

As a practitioner in the field, what do you love about teaching?

That's easy: trying to figure out how to connect what I know with student interests and concerns. When the connection is made, it's exhilarating.

What drew you to cultural sustainability in the first place?

The unabashed progressive intent; the desire to use academic and professional skills to advance human well-being.

Tell us about a favorite hobby or passion of yours.

My passion is history, understanding the present in terms of the past. When I take a break from this, I like to read novels and walk in the woods. I also am a pretty serious practitioner of yoga. Travel is nice, too.

What's your favorite thing about Goucher's cultural sustainability program?

The students!