1 College in Science & Math for Women - Westminster College

Three Alumni Return as Distinguished LecturersThree Westminster College alumni—Shirley Bigley LaMotte ’76, Alice Hill Brown’83, and Linda Wright Simpson ’81—werehonored as Distinguished Alumni lecturersduring Homecoming 2010.Shirley Bigley LaMotte, chief executiveofficer of Baltimore Literacy Corporation(Baltimore Reads, Inc.), was hosted byWestminster’s Department of Religion,History, Philosophy and Classics. BigleyLaMotte visited several classes within thedepartment and held informal discussionswith students.In addition to her work with the literacyorganization, Bigley LaMotte also servesas a member of the Baltimore mayor’scabinet, the mayor’s sub-cabinet on humandevelopment, the Baltimore WorkforceInvestment Board, and is a governor’sappointee to the Adult EducationTransition Council.She holds a juris doctorate from theUniversity of Maryland School of Law.Alice Hill Brown, a biologist at the FBILaboratory in Quantico, Va., lectured on“DNA, the FBI and Life.” Her visit was hostedby Westminster’s Department of Chemistry.Brown joined the FBI Laboratory inWashington, D.C., in 1984 as a biologicallaboratory technician. She has coauthoredseveral papers for presentationand publication and received numerousperformance and achievement awards.Dean Jesse Mann, left, and President Richard Dorman, right, gather with Distinguished LecturersShirley Bigley LaMotte, second from left, Alice Hill Brown, center, and Linda Wright Simpson.Linda Wright Simpson, a U.S. bankruptcyadministrator for the western district ofNorth Carolina, discussed “Math Geek orLawyer—the Coolness Factor” during hervisit, which was hosted by Westminster’sDepartment of Mathematics and ComputerScience.Simpson primary practice area for 25years is in bankruptcy litigation andadministration.She has been active in legal educationprograms; committees providing adviceto the Judicial Conference of the UnitedStates; has provided testimony to theNational Bankruptcy Review Commission;and was a member of a delegation thatprovided assistance to the BankruptcyCourts of Thailand.Simpson is also serving her second term onWestminster’s Board of Trustees.She earned her juris doctorate from theUniversity of North Carolina School of Law.She has served as an elder at WestminsterPresbyterian Church in Charlotte, N.C., andreceived an honorary life membershipto the Presbyterian Women of thePresbyterian Church, U.S.A.New trusteesTwo Westminster alumni—Robin Willoughby Gooch ‘75 and Glenn Thompson ’68—wererecently appointed to the Westminster College Board of Trustees.Gooch and her husband, David Gooch ’75, are co-owners for V.A.M. Associates Inc., of ChagrinFalls, Ohio, a steel and metals wholesale distribution firm that the couple founded in 1991.She served as president of Alumni Council at Westminster and she is also involved in area civicorganizations including the Girl Scouts, Chagrin Soccer Association, and the St. Jude Run forthe Cure.Thompson recently retired as chief operating officer of Plextronics Inc. of Pittsburgh, ahigh technology firm specializing in organic solar cell and light emitting diode technology.Previously, he had retired from PPG, where he served as vice president of its South AmericanCoatings Operations and as director of business development.He holds a master’s degree in polymer science from Carnegie Mellon University. He residesin Meridian.Westminster College Magazine 9