Excerpt

Forty years after the Civil Rights Act of 1964, it seems that the word ["diversity"] is an easy-to-say, often misunderstood, bland example of bizspeak that belies the complexity and heterogeneity of the problems, issues, and solutions that it is meant to connote...MIT is grappling with the “d word” in all of its many dimensions...

Linda Sharpe, Technology Review, 1 March 2005 

About the Author

Linda Carolyn Sharpe '69 earned a Bachelors in Political Science from MIT in 1969. From 1970 to 1975, she remained at MIT, completing PhD coursework and exams in the field with a focus on policy studies, operations research, and systems engineering with a focus on quantitative methods applied to domestic and international urban economic development.

She is currently a Transportation Program Analyst at DIGITALiBiz, Inc.

A co-founder of the MIT Black Students' Union and the first African American woman to serve as president of the MIT Alumni/ae Association, Sharpe continues to serve the MIT community in a variety of capacities:

• Member, Educational Council (June 1992 - June 2019)
• Vice-President, Class of 1969 (July 2014 - June 2019)
• Member, Board Governance ad hoc Committee (July 2018 - June 2019)
• Reunion Ambassador, Class Reunion Committee (July 2018 - June 2019)
• Committee Member, BAMIT Capstone Event Committee (2018)
• Member, MIT Corporation (2000-10)
• President, MIT Alumni Association (2004-05)
• Black Alumni of MIT Life Member (1999)
• Bronze Beaver Award (1999)
• Harold E. Lobdell ’17 Distinguished Service Award (1996)

Photo: Alan Kranin, MIT Class of 1969 35th Reunion, 6 June 2004

Sharpe, Linda C. "The Diversity of Diversity: It’s More than Race." Technology Review, 1 March 2005.