Linda Fletcher, who served as dean of the College of Business at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga and dean of the School of Business and Public Affairs at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, died on April 20 at her home in Little Rock, Arkansas. She was 82 years old.
A native of North Little Rock, Arkansas, Dr. Fletcher earned a bachelor’s degree at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. In 1964, she was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in applied economics at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Fletcher taught at Temple University in Philadephia and Louisiana State University before becoming a professor of finance and department chair at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia. In 1987, Professor Fletcher was named dean of the School of Business and Public Affairs at West Chester. Four years later she was appointed to head the business school at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga. She taught there for nine years.