Scripps College recognizes Lynne Thompson ’72 for her service as the outgoing chair of the College’s Board of Trustees. Thompson completed her term in June 2022, following four years of leadership.
Laura Vausbinder Hockett ’85, who began her term as chair on July 1, praises Thompson’s contributions. “I am excited to build on Lynne’s many successes and to benefit from her ongoing guidance and contributions to the Board,” she says.
While a student at Scripps, Thompson served as student council president. She graduated with a degree in social psychology and went on to earn her JD from Southwestern University School of Law. She was director of the Employee and Labor Relations Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, for 20 years, until her retirement in 2014, and she also served as the interim Title IX officer at the University of California, Riverside.
Thompson became a trustee of the College in 1998, when she was elected president of the Alumnae Leadership Council, a role she occupied until 2000. In 2003, she was appointed to the position of Lois Langland Alumna in Residence, eventually rejoining the Board in 2014. During her time on the Board, Thompson assumed various leadership roles, such as the chair of the Educational Policy Committee. She has also been a member of various Board committees, including the two most recent Presidential Search committees.
Thompson will continue her service on the Board as immediate past chair. An accomplished and award-winning poet with several collections and publications in prestigious literary journals, she is also serving a two-year term as the poet laureate of Los Angeles, a role to which she was appointed in 2021.
Says Thompson: “I am privileged and honored to have served as the chair, and I am looking forward to continuing my Board service during this exciting time for Scripps College.”