Texas A&M Distinguished Professor Dr. Yvonna Lincoln retires

Award-winning higher education administration faculty Dr. Yvonna S. Lincoln retired after 40 years as an educator and nearly 30 years with Texas A&M.

Lincoln joined the Department of Educational Administration and Human Resource Development in 1991. She served in many roles during her tenure, including department head, associate department head, interim department head and program chair. She also held the Ruth Harrington Chair of Educational Leadership.

Between research and service, she taught graduate courses in qualitative research methods, the foundations of American higher education, proposal preparation and organizational theory.

Lincoln’s passion for higher education stems from the unique layers of the organization that lend itself to achieving long term goals like research, teaching and service.

“Institutions of higher education are unlike any other kind of organization in the West,” Lincoln said. “I have been particularly interested in places like Texas A&M, land grant institutions, because they have specific missions, like outreach, that other institutions do not have.”

One of the most notable changes Lincoln remembered during her career was the selection of the first female dean on Texas A&M’s campus in 1990, the College of Education and Human Development’s own Jane Stallings.
Lincoln also made Texas A&M history when she received the title of University Distinguished Professor in 2001. She was the first female to receive the award.

“My colleagues made sure I served on the executive committee as the first female distinguished professor and wanted me to have more visibility in the hopes that it would demonstrate to people that there were other women who should be distinguished professors as well,” Lincoln said.

Outside of the college, she has served as president of two national organizations, the Association for the Study of Higher Education and the American Evaluation Association. Lincoln also serves as a co-editor for the Qualitative Inquiry Journal, and serves on several other editorial boards. She remains one of the most-cited scholars in her field, with over 25,000 citations.

Lincoln’s legacy

Lincoln said she hopes her legacy is her impact on students and faculty.
“I hope to leave behind a generation of students who have a broader understanding of what the role of higher education in American society is,” Lincoln said. “I hope to leave behind some faculty that I have mentored who understand themselves how to mentor others and are willing to step in for junior faculty, and support them.”

As for the college, she hopes it continues to prosper along the current trajectory.

“I would like to see the college continue to raise external money, both for research and for support of our faculty and students. I would like to see us become more noted in the various fields that are taught, and continue to hire more really lovely people as openings become available,” Lincoln said.

Learn more about Dr. Lincoln’s research.