Professor Coleman

Marketing and Decision Sciences Department

Bertolon School of Business

Article from the Salem State College Focus

Spring 1998 Volume 2 Number 2

Faculty Profile Linda Jane Coleman

A Woman With Many Hats

By Kieran O'Neill

 "I like to work hand in hand with the students," says Salem State College marketing Professor Linda Coleman.  "All I can do is provide information, support and motivation.  I love the blend of being in the classroom, writing, publishing, and consulting work;  I thrive on variety."

    Professor Coleman certainly has variety in her life.  Her interests range from running to acting, and she is also involved in numerous community activities.  Coleman is presently on the Massachusetts Special Olympics Board of Directors.

    Born in West Virginia, Coleman earned her bachelor's degree in business at West Virginia Wesleyan College and her M.S. in Management at Virginia Commonwealth University.  Her post-graduate work at the Universities of Baltimore and Maryland led her into organizational behavior and marketing.  While in the process of earning her master's degree, Coleman worked with the Equitable Bank in Maryland as a bank officer.

    "I felt I could be more effective in the classroom with this experience, especially in higher education," she says.  "I didn't want to just talk theory; I wanted to be the voice of experience going in there to teach."

    Her move to Salem came as a result of a vacation to Cape Ann almost twenty years ago.  "I fell in love with the place.  I was impressed with the history, the architecture; there's so much here to see and experience," she said.

    Coleman decided to settle on the North Shore and found Salem State to be a solid school striving and growing to become one of the top schools in the region.

    "My desire was to come to a school that was growing and I wanted to be part of that maturing process," she says.  "In the seventeen years I've been here I have seen our school of Business go from a Department of Business Administration, to being in process for accrediting with AACSB.  There has been a lot of expansion and the hiring of new faculty whose strengths lie in different areas of the business fields.  We have some pretty exciting schools here at Salem State College, and Business is certainly one of them."

    Coleman believes her teaching style prepares her students for the global market and provides them with the fundamental skills that are needed to succeed.

    "I take more of a hands-on approach to learning," she says.  "I try to facilitate the learning experience.  If a student is reading the Wall Street Journal or The Economist and actively participates in group-work, that student will excel at the subject.."

    Coleman knows what the average student goes through day in and day out and is sensitive to their daily concerns.  The two things she stresses to her students at the beginning of each semester is, "Be Organized and Don't Procrastinate."

    "I provide the students with plenty of information," says Coleman.  "I believe this helps with the reduction in the students' stress level.  If a student is given all the relevant information to the course and provided they are organized and don't procrastinate, then they will succeed in the classroom and their professional life.  I want this experience to be fun for me and for the students."

    "I love information exchange," she adds.  "I love to stretch and see others stretch.  I try and have a clear conscience and instill that in others.  I like to have a balance in my life and take time to smell the roses."

    Community activities and consulting work are, as Coleman puts it, "significant to my professional development."  She studied acting at the Maryland Actor's Conservatory but it was in the summer of 1985, here in Salem, that she made her stage debut as "Muriel" in Neil Simon's Plaza Suite. In 1994 Coleman played multiple roles in the production of Scrooge and Marley produced by the Gloucester Stage Company.  More recently she played Athena in Trojan Women and Miss Daisy in Driving Miss Daisy with the Salem State College Theatre.

    Coleman says she loves to act on stage and holds the Salem State College Theatre Department in high regard.  She considers it totally professional in the way it produces each show,  However, she stresses that one should only act on the stage and not in life.

    One of the activities that Coleman participates in everyday is running.  On any given morning while some of us are rolling over, you can find her pounding the pavement on her way to the first of six miles she runs every day.  As a member of the BAA (Boston Athletic Association), she completed the 1996 centennial Boston Marathon.  In her spare time Coleman loves to go to movies and admits to taking a nap once in a while.

Article from the Salem State Log

October 23, 2002

Linda Jane Coleman

Life's Lessons from Professor Linda Coleman

Interview by Julio Chuy

I was born............................ in Charleston, West Virginia.

Time always............................ challenges me to use it and enjoy it in more meaningful and efficient ways.

Memories............................ are precious and always with me even if the people or situations aren't anymore.

People always............................ underestimate what they can change in themselves and their universe.

When you're young............................ you think maturity is old and boring.

Students in my class............................ are extremely special, eager, hard working, overextended, and a delight.

Opportunity............................ presents itself over and over again.

I never............................ say never.

I always............................ say "trial and error," "progress not perfection," "you never know."

Marketing............................ gets a bad rap.

I've learned............................ from acceptance and encouragement more than from strictness and confinement.

The first time I met............................ a person from Thailand, I was impressed with the genuineness, balance and spirituality.

If I had to do it all over again............................ I wouldn't have been around my neighbor with the flu the week before I ran the Boston marathon.

Mistakes sometimes............................ are an opportunity to learn what to do next time and to grow.

When I was younger............................ I thought people that were my age were old.

Time after time............................ I see life as a process not a destination.

My motto is............................ Say what you mean, mean what you say, and don't say it mean and do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

Professor Coleman teaches Principles of Marketing and International Marketing in the Marketing Department in Bertolon School of Business.  She has been at Salem State College for 18 years.  She runs daily and enjoys bike-riding, swimming.  She loves acting, sports, movies, writing, research, and crossword puzzles.