Linda Gordon received an Associate of Arts degree with an emphasis in humanities in 1975 from Cottey College, a Bachelor of Arts in English and Bachelor of Science in Education in 1978 from Missouri Southern State College, and a Masters in Educational Administration (secondary emphasis) in 1998 from William Woods University. She has completed additional graduate coursework through Central Missouri State University and the University of Missouri – Columbia.

With teaching certification in language arts, speech, and theatre for grades 7-12, Linda has taught 24 years in Missouri public schools and colleges. She has eight years of experience at the middle school level, teaching language arts, speech, and theatre classes to students at Moberly Middle School and Oakland Junior High (Columbia). At the high school level, she has 12 years of experience in districts ranging in size from New Franklin (120 students) to Lee’s Summit North (2,100+ students). Her teaching assignments at the high school level included courses in language arts, speech, theatre, and journalism. At the college/university setting, Linda has taught four years, including one year at Truman State University, two at the University of Missouri – Columbia, and one at Missouri Valley College.

She completed her administrative internship at Oakland Jr. High in the Columbia Public School District (1998) and also served as a summer school administrator for the Lee’s Summit Public Schools in 2003.

Linda says one of the highlights of her career was her two year involvement with the Teaching Fellows program at the University of Missouri – Columbia where she served as a mentor for four beginning teachers earning their Masters degrees. Part of her job responsibilities at that time included teaching in the Undergraduate Teacher Development program at UMC and providing support and professional development opportunities for beginning teachers in the Moberly Public Schools.

Linda has completed action research in the areas of interdisciplinary team planning and student diversity. Her article, “A Look Within – Using Action Research to Improve Interdisciplinary Planning” was published in the November 1998 issue of Transescent, a middle school journal. She has also worked as a private consultant in the areas of beginning teacher assessment and professional development.

In addition to teaching, Linda has sponsored a number of extra-curricular activities for middle school and high school students. Through the years, she has been involved with speech and drama clubs, plays and musicals, student publications, and completed a two-year stint as cheerleading coach in one of her schools. While at Truman, Linda was one of the sponsors for Alpha Phi Omega, a national service fraternity. This year at Missouri Valley, Linda will sponsor the student MSTA organization

During her tenure as a public school teacher, Linda has also served on a number of professional committees, including language arts curriculum committees, principal and superintendent search committees, advisory committees, MSTA/NEA committees, and as part of the High Schools That Work initiative team in Lee’s Summit. She has twice served as a cooperating teacher for UMC and in 1992 served on the editing board of Missouri Youth Writes.

Linda is a past member of Golden Key, Epsilon Gamma, MSTA, NEA, and STAM (Speech and Theatre Association of Missouri). Currently, she is a member of Valley Women, the Marshall High School Booster Club, Chapter LP, P.E.O., and the United Methodist Church of Marshall.

Although most of her work in the past 28 years has been in the educational field, she spent one year as a news reporter and feature writer for the Moberly Monitor-Index and two years as assistant director of public relations for Truman State University.

Linda is married to Dr. Rob Gordon, superintendent of the Marshall Public Schools. They have one son, Kevyn, of Lee’s Summit; a daughter and son-in-law, Kailey and Brian Fleming, of Fort Collins, Colorado; and two Labrador retrievers, Buddy and Skylar. She enjoys reading, decorating, piano, travel, and photography in her spare time.