Alumni of Merit Award
The Alumni of Merit Award, the highest honor the Alumni Association bestows on an alumna/us of Whitman College, is given to alumni who have achieved distinction in their chosen field, or rendered outstanding service to their community, or rendered outstanding service to, and demonstrated loyal interest in, Whitman College.
The 2026 Alumna of Merit is Linda King Brewer ’66
The 2026 Alumna of Merit is Linda King Brewer, Class of 1966. In addition to her life’s work as a social worker, teacher and psychotherapist, Linda has been a lifetime supporter of Whitman College. Her history of service includes terms on the Alumni Board, the Board of Overseers, and the President’s Advisory Board, as well as her sustained generosity to the college dating from her senior year.
A sociology major, Linda was a member of the Alpha Phi sorority and wrote for the Whitman Pioneer. She was raised in Idaho, lived on the East Coast for ten years, and has lived in San Francisco for over forty years. Linda holds a MSW from Catholic University and an EdD in Counseling Psychology from the University of San Francisco.
Linda is an emerita faculty member at San Francisco State University, having taught in the School of Social Work for twenty years. A psychotherapist in private practice, Linda also taught workshops and supervised trainees. She also taught in MA counseling programs at San Francisco State University, JFK University, and California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). Prior experience includes work at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the College of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Linda also had a brief tenure working for the Pacific Coast Stock Exchange (PCSE) and for a year was an Options Trader on the floor of the PCSE.
Linda’s interests include singing, traveling, tennis, and contemporary theater. For ten years, she was active in USTA tennis activities as Referee and Tournament Director for local tournaments. She traveled to Melbourne for four years to work as a linesperson at the Australian Open.
In 1995, Linda commissioned El Alma Y La Memoria, three poems by Antonio Machado set to music composed by David Garner, in memory of her voice teacher Edwin Barlow. She is a member of the San Francisco Choral Society’s new music committee and sang with that group for twenty years. She has been a member of the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Playhouse and is an active commissioner of new works. Linda serves as the Vice-President of the Board of Trustees of the SF Playwrights Foundation.
She was a member of the Whitman College Alumni Association Board from 2003 to 2011 and served as President from 2009 to 2011. In May 2011, Linda became an Overseer at Whitman College and continued her service to the College as a member of the President’s Advisory Board until May 2025. She served as co-chair of finance committee for her 40th reunion and was a co-chair of her 50th reunion. She created the Linda K. Brewer Internship Scholarship in 2011 and launched the Linda K. Brewer Professorship of Sociology at Whitman College in 2018. In 2024, she created The Linda King Brewer Theater Scholarship.