The Magic of Linda Timm: ready to lead Mount Mary College
By: Alice Frost

"Would you like to see my magic wand?"
laughs Linda Timm, Ph.D.,
as she welcomes me into her office.

Her face lights up with delight as she sweeps her lavender, dollar-store baton over piles of books waiting to be shipped to Milwaukee, Wis., where she will be installed as the 10th president of Mount Mary College this summer.

For 11 years, Timm has served Saint Mary's College as vice president for student affairs, directing areas of student life as diverse as athletics and recreation, security and safety, student activities, and multicultural affairs. Her extraordinary legacy has come from her commitment to the College's student-centered mission that she says informed every decision she made. And those decisions made more than dollar-store magic–they made students' dreams come true.

The $16 million Student Center and Noble Family Dining Hall is one example where Timm sought student input and "stayed true to their wishes" to bring an idea to fruition. Now it's a lively hub of activity at the center of campus. Another dream was the Opus Hall apartments.

Students told the educator they wished for a place they could live independently while participating in community, a safe place where they could learn life skills like cooking and time management that they'll need when they graduate. With the support of donors and the Saint Mary's community, Timm helped to make that dream come true, too. But with decades of accomplishment as a college administrator behind her, Timm says she's most proud of her "relationship with the students. I think they know I care."

Timm's professional colleagues–and the students who have come to know her–would agree. "Amazing," is how Jennifer Warfel '06 describes Timm, whom she's worked with as a student assistant for the past two years. "She's always happy, always supportive, and always willing to talk with students."

Jill Vlasek '06, who sat on the Board of Trustees' Student Life Committee with Timm, praises the departing vice president as "very intelligent, very efficient, but so much fun–so joyful. Her dedication to the students and mission of Saint Mary's is unmatched," Vlasek says. "Her level of care and concern are so high. It will be tough for the next person to fill her shoes."

Timm's legacy also includes promoting Saint Mary's membership in the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA), which the College joined in 1997. Both Timm and President Carol Ann Mooney '72 have made athletics a priority, believing that today's students expect athletic opportunities and that sports add spirit to campus life.

Without a doubt, Timm's warmth and exuberance, her commitment to transformative education, and her superb leadership skills have shaped Saint Mary's. Yet the College has changed Timm, too. It was at Saint Mary's, she says, that she discovered her calling in Catholic women's higher education and had the opportunity to hone her leadership talents within a supportive community. She will leave a lasting legacy but will take many lessons and memories with her to her new job in Milwaukee.

How did the administrator find the stamina for her many enterprises? Sister Rose Anne Schultz '66, CSC, says, "Linda regularly found strength in worshipping with the community in the Church of Loretto on campus," and that she "encouraged students to make friends with the sisters." But best of all "she was a colleague who focused on the bright side of life, and her sunny disposition was a constant source of joy and enthusiasm in any meeting or gathering."

That's Timm's real magic.