MAKE A GIFT
Throughout her career, Linda J. Caldwell Epps ’73 has been a leader dedicated to public service. She is president and CEO of 1804 Consultants, an organization dedicated to the advancement of educational and cultural organizations.
As a campus leader at Bloomfield College for over 26 years, she rose to become Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students, capped by her role as Vice President for College Relations. During her leadership, she helped create a campus-wide student assessment project to help assure student and faculty success. She also transformed residential facilities into theme houses to support and enhance core competencies. In addition, the College successfully completed an $8.4 million capital campaign during her tenure as VP for College Relations. Linda later became Vice President for Institutional Relations at New Jersey Network Television and Radio where she oversaw the NJN Foundation Development Program, improved public affairs and worked closely with trustees and board members to increase institutional resources.
Linda most-recently served as President and CEO of the New Jersey Historical Society, charged with management of a state-wide museum, library, and educational facility preserving artifacts, print materials and documenting the social, political and cultural history of New Jersey. During her career, she has also served as a Ford Foundation funded consultant to several institutions of higher learning – among them Keene College in New Hampshire, Union College in Ohio and the College of St. Elizabeth in New Jersey, on issues of diversity and equity in higher education.
Following Douglass College, Linda earned a Master’s Degree in American studies from Seton Hall University. She completed a doctoral program at Drew University with a dissertation topic, From Zion to Brick City: What’s Going On? Newark and the Legacy of the Sixties. She completed the Institute for Higher Education Management program at Harvard University, the American Associate of Colleges and Universities Diversity Institute, and is a Leadership New Jersey Fellow ’92.
Linda is an active volunteer whose board service includes: New Jersey Performing Arts Center Theater Square Development Board; NJ Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission; NJ History Advocates Board Secretary; Newark Historical Society; Newark Archives Project Board of Advisors; Historical Society of Elizabeth, NJ; Jewish Museum of NJ; Timbuktu Restoration Project Committee; past Board Chair of Aljira Arts and Cultural Organization; past New Jersey President of the National Council of Equal Opportunity in Higher Education; past Chair of the Education Committee for The New Jersey Shakespeare Festival; past President of the Essex County Chapter of Zonta International, and board member of NorthStar Charter School, Leadership New Jersey Fellows Organization, and the Associate Alumnae of Douglass College.
Linda has received recognition for her service from several organizations, including most recently the Most Distinguished Alumnae Award from Seton Hall University, and a Community Leadership Award from the Montclair YMCA.
Linda is an active member of Bethany Baptist Church in Newark, NJ, where she teaches an adult church school class, serves as president of the Bethany Book Club, and is an active Deaconess. Born and raised in Elizabeth, NJ, she has resided in Newark for over 40 years. She is married to Mark Epps, Jr. COOK ’72, and has two sons, Mark III and Bryan Epps RU ’05.
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The Associate Alumnae of Douglass College and Douglass, will induct three distinguished alumnae into The Douglass Society at the 2014 Douglass Society Induction Ceremony in Voorhees Chapel on October 8, at 10:55 a.m. This year’s honorees are: Linda J. Caldwell Epps ’73, Student Affairs and Higher Education Leader; Suzann B. Goldstein ’85, Co-Founder of The Valerie Fund and Health Care Advocate; Diane LeBow, Ph.D. ’61, Educator, Writer, Activist, and Photojournalist. The Douglass Society was established in 1973 to recognize alumnae who have made major contributions in their field of expertise and whose life work embodies exceptional accomplishments and leadership. Register online to attend the induction ceremony.