CSUEB vice president to be honored by American Institute of Certified Planners
Linda C. Dalton
- February 17, 2012
Linda C. Dalton, vice president for planning, enrollment management, and student affairs for Cal State East Bay, has been elected as a fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners. She will be one of only five Californians to be inducted into the AICP College of Fellows – one of the highest honors given to institute members – on April 15 at a ceremony in Los Angeles.
“This honor recognizes the achievements of the professional as a model planner with significant contributions to planning and society,” according to the guidelines for Fellows of the American Institute of Certified Planners. “To be selected, a planner must have worked as a certified professional for at least 15 years and must demonstrate exceptional, innovative, and sustained leadership over his or her career.”
Dalton appreciates her selection as a fellow.
“Many academics who have earned a Ph.D. do not feel that professional certification matters,” Dalton said. “While teaching city and regional planning at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in the 1980’s and 1990’s I decided that passing the certification exam would demonstrate my commitment to furthering the practice of planning. Now, to become a fellow I feel extremely honored that the value of the work I have done throughout my career is being recognized.”
She was nominated for her community service and leadership as a planner. Recognition in this category means that she has made “outstanding contributions to the advancement of the profession and principles of planning that have been inspiring at the national or local levels,” according to FAICP guidelines. Planners also are honored for exceptional professional practice, teaching, or research in the field.
Dalton’s leadership skills emerged while still a graduate student at the University of Washington in the 1970s, when she became active in her Seattle neighborhood. After completing her education at UW, she soon became chair of the Seattle City Planning Commission. She followed that later by chairing the City and Regional Planning Department at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo for five years and serving two terms on the accreditation board that reviews all North American programs that grant bachelor’s and master’s degrees in planning.
She also served on the national education committee of the American Planning Association. She feels that her effectiveness in leading these and other groups is attributed to her ability to encourage collaboration and achieve consensus among group representatives from different backgrounds and competing interests.
Before coming to Cal State East Bay in 2007, Dalton worked on Cal Poly’s award-winning campus master plan. At CSUEB she coordinates strategic planning for the university, among other responsibilities.
Her leadership, according to Cal State East Bay President Leroy M. Morishita, has been instrumental in implementing the university’s strategic planning framework and processes which has produced the CSUEB academic plan, a Hayward Campus master plan, and the university’s seven strategic mandates.
“We are extremely proud that one of our senior administrators is being honored by her professional society,” Morishita said. “This is a great example of how one’s disciplinary preparation transcends in professional service to our university, the California State University, and the broader communities in which we serve.”
After her induction as an AICP fellow, she is entitled to use the initials FAICP after name.
Dalton was a fellow of the American Council on Education in 1993-94, spending that academic year at Arizona State University.
She is a member of the California Planning Roundtable and has served on the Pacific Regional Council of the Society of College and University Planning. The California Chapter of the American Planning Association selected Dalton for its Distinguished Leadership/Professional Planner Award in 2000 and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning honored her with its Higher Education Leadership Award in 2007.
Dalton earned her doctorate (1978) and Master’s degree (1974) in urban planning from the University of Washington; and her baccalaureate degree – magna cum laude in Fine Arts (art and architectural history – from Radcliffe College/Harvard University (1967).
She has received awards for articles she published in the Journal of the American Planning Association and the Journal of Planning Education and Research. She is co-editor (with Charles Hoch and Frank So) of the third edition of The Practice of Local Government Planning (published by the International City Management Association, 2000).