Quick uses her alumna experience to mentor current students

By Ilaria Noonan

Linda Quick exemplifies all the pillars of what it means to be an Honors College and Brinkley-Lane Scholar alumna. She is also a Pirate through and through. Quick is a 2005 graduate of the Brinkley-Lane Scholars (formerly known as the EC Scholars) program and majored in both accounting and finance. She now serves as the assistant dean of the Thomas D. Arthur Graduate School of Business at ECU where she is making an impact on students every day.

Coming into college Quick remembers thinking she would just get her degree and find a good job in accounting like many people she knew at the time.

“I didn’t know anyone who had a master’s degree other than my pediatrician,” she said. “I didn’t really see that as a path.”

However, through the help of the faculty in her department and the Honors College, she pursued and obtained her masters in accounting at ECU. Quick also went on to get her PhD from the University of South Carolina in 2013.

Quick now serves as a mentor for students both in and out of the Honors College. She has served as a Signature Honors Project mentor to 10 students.

“I feel a lot of responsibility to expose my students to those options and make sure they know they are capable and that they are getting a great experience,” Quick said.

She definitely has a unique perspective as a mentor because she has been in their shoes before and understands the impact it can have on both the student and the community. Never be afraid to be told no is something that she lives by and has made sure to tell her students as well.

“Take advantage of the opportunities that you come across,” she said. “Do not feel like they are meant for someone else.”

Along with her many other roles here at ECU, Quick also is on the Brinkley-Lane Scholars and honors application review board, leads an interview team for Brinkley-Lane Scholars Selection Sunday, and is a chair of the Honors College Faculty Advisory Council. In her free time, she loves to travel, spend time with her husband and two kids, and read. She is happy to be back in the post- COVID world of face-to-face interactions and encourages everyone to take advantage of that.