Linda Pickthorne Fletcher, the former dean of the College of Business at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga who helped create the Institute for Women Entrepreneurs, died April 20 at her home in Little Rock, Arkansas. She was 82.
Dr. Fletcher, who was named dean and the John Stagmaier Chair of Economics and Business at UTC in 1991, served as a professor and college dean in Chattanooga for nine years.
“Her enthusiasm and her vision for the college allowed her to recruit accomplished faculty and move the college into new programs such as an Executive MBA program and an innovative entrepreneurship program,” said Dr. Richard C. Becherer, emeritus professor of entrepreneurship at UTC. “Dr. Fletcher’s tenure as dean left a mark on the college of Business that we still celebrate today.”
While dean of UTC’s business school, four faculty that worked under her went on to became business deans – Marilyn Helms at the C. Lamar and Ann Wright School of Business at Dalton State College, Howard Finch at Samford (now provost), Donna T. Mayo at Dalton State College and Tom Payne at Tennessee Tech.
“All four of us were at UTC and shared trailer offices during the renovation of Fletcher Hall and continue to be known as the ‘UTC Trailer Park Deans.'” Dr. Helms recalled. “I have to believe Linda was the role model that led us all to higher education administration.”
Fletcher died just a month after one of her successors as UTC business college dean, Richard Casavant, died at age 77.
Fletcher also served as a board member of EPB, Girls, Inc., AmSouth Bank, Greater Chattanooga Construction Industry Corp., the YMCA of Chattanooga, and the TN Weekend Academy. She was also a consultant and advisor to the business community and to the U.S. Department of Labor Pension and Welfare Benefits Program.
A native of North Little Rock, Arkansas, Fletcher earned her bachelor’s degreee at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and was the first woman to receive her Ph.D. in applied economics in 1964 at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She served as a professor at Wharton, LSU and Temple University before being named department chair and finance professor at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1987, Fletcher became one of the few women deans of a business school when she became dean for the School of Business and Public Affairs at West Chester (Pennsylvania) University for four years before being named to a similar post at UTC.
Linda Fletcher / UTC contributed photo