Linda Johnston (B.M.E. ’72) retired in 2025 after nearly 40 years with the VCUarts Department of Music.
“Linda’s remarkable work at has left a lasting and profoundly positive impact on the department and people who call it home,” says Sandy Goldie, chair of the Department of Music. “To our faculty, staff, students, and four department chairs, she has been a rock of stability and confidence, a helping hand in times where support was needed, a fount of knowledge when a problem had to be solved, a connecting fabric to our donors and community, and a kind word or smile for anyone in desperate need of a laugh.”
At Johnston’s retirement celebration last month, VCUarts announced a new scholarship fund established in her honor with funding from Kathy (B.M.E.’65) and Emerson (B.M.E.’65) Hughes. The scholarship will benefit a music major, with preference given to continuing students with a financial need.
“Linda Johnston has been a pillar at VCUarts,” Kathy says. “She has supported both students and faculty, has been an organizer for all-things music, and has been a mender of hearts, differences, machines and all else that needed help throughout her years at VCU.
“This scholarship fund will carry on her benevolence, kindness, caring and encouragement.”
