As a new Waterloo faculty member, Jessica Thompson deeply appreciated the support of her friend, colleague and mentor, Linda Carson (BMath ’85, BA ’90, MSc ’04, PhD ’13). Jessica remembers how Linda – among many other things – helped her organize a field trip for her Fine Arts students, which included a visit to the Jumbo the Elephant Memorial in St. Thomas, Ontario. She still has the photo of a smiling Linda, holding a sketch of an elephant, as a memento of that trip.
Betty Bax (BSc ’82) met Linda when she and her daughter took art lessons at Linda’s Big Black Pig Studio. Betty later worked with her in Waterloo’s Faculty of Environment, where Linda was instrumental in the development of the Knowledge Integration (KI) program, which focuses on interdisciplinary collaboration.
Both Jessica and Betty remember Linda as smart, dedicated and curious about an infinite number of topics. They reminisce about her amazing ability to connect both ideas and people. Most of all, they say, she cared deeply about the hundreds of students she taught across Waterloo.
In 2020, Linda was diagnosed with ALS, a terminal motor neuron disease. As part of her estate planning, she made a bequest to the University to endow two student awards. When she lost the ability to speak, Jessica, Betty and Craig Kaplan (another friend and colleague of Linda’s) became her voice. They worked with Waterloo Advancement staff to develop the awards’ criteria, conveying Linda’s wishes and ensuring this exceptional teacher’s support for students continues, even after her death.
The Linda Carson Memorial Interdisciplinary Award recognizes undergraduate students who have demonstrated excellence in an interdisciplinary project completed for academic credit.
The award’s designation makes sense, since Linda herself earned degrees from three different Waterloo faculties, taught in KI, the Stratford School, and in the Departments of Fine Arts and Psychology, and was a playwright and programmer, among many other achievements.
Linda's second award, the Belonging Award, supports students who have overcome obstacles on their road to post-secondary education. Again, the Award reflects the way Linda lived her life. For example, she noticed that Black students were disproportionately represented in University 101, a course she developed to help struggling first-year students get back on track academically. Jessica remembers Linda’s concern for these students and her efforts to both understand and draw attention to the challenges they faced.
It’s a testament to the kind of person Linda was that after her death in November of 2021, more than 100 people from across the University community and beyond contributed in her memory, helping Linda’s legacy of caring, creativity and collaboration to live on.
“Linda is somebody who changed lives, whether it was a first-year student or a colleague,” Jessica says. “She did so much for me; my donation is my way of doing something for her.”
Betty adds, “I’d like to tell the award recipients ‘This is the coolest person that I know. You would have liked her. And you would have learned way more from her than you ever knew.’”
