Linda Chavers, Ph.D.
She/Her/Hers
Senior Consultant
I am based in: Chelsea, Massachusetts
My strengths are: Restorative Justice, Empathy, Humor, Reflective Listening, Crisis Management, Difficult Conversations
I identify as: African American, Woman, Disabled, Feminist
Linda Chavers is a consultant, scholar, teacher, and an activist who is passionate about the importance of leadership in social justice movements, particularly in education. Born and raised in Washington, DC, she volunteered as a rape crisis counselor during her undergraduate studies, and she tutored incarcerated women during her graduate studies. A strong believer in radical transparency, Linda shares her personal story of a Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis at 24 years old in order to bring more awareness to invisible illness and disability rights in conversations and practices around hiring and retention.
Linda brings to NPAG fifteen years of teaching and administrative leadership in higher education. As a college lecturer she would occasionally be the only faculty member to introduce writers of color to general education curricula culminating in her course on Black Feminist Writing which centered intersectionality as a critical component to liberal arts education. As resident dean of students at Harvard University she helped to introduce restorative justice practices to address campus conflict, and supported dozens of students facing new medical diagnoses navigate various bureaucratic systems. In all of her capacities, Linda led and facilitated workshops with students on navigating difficult conversations as well as with faculty, especially after the election of President Donald Trump in 2017.
In 2021 Linda continued to raise awareness and cultivate strong leadership at Storbeck Search (Diversified Search Group) supporting equity centered Dean, Provost, and President transitions for a range of academic institutions. In 2024 she joined NPAG to bring her expertise to nonprofits and philanthropic organizations advancing equity centered, positive systems change both internally and externally.
In addition to her consulting work at NPAG Linda continues to teach and write, currently serving as professor of literature and co-director of the Clemente Course in the Humanities which provides free educational opportunities in the humanities for adults facing economic hardship, and publishing both prose poetry and creative nonfiction. She credits much of her passion for advocacy and community building to her mother’s early example as an activist for the reproductive rights of Black women and girls in Washington, DC. Linda brings the insights from both personal and professional crisis management beginning with being a 19-year-old sophomore at NYU during September 11, 2001, managing an early diagnosis of a chronic illness, supporting undocumented students under a xenophobic administration, and navigating a college campus with hundreds of students during a pandemic. Linda has her BA from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University, an MA in English from Harvard University, and a PhD in African and African American Studies from Harvard University.
More About Linda
Is there a quote that inspires you? You can be loud. You can be wrong. Try not to be loud and wrong at the same time.
If you could give a 10-minute presentation on any subject, what would it be? The Fast and the Furious.
What’s the number one priority for your lifetime? Kindness.