YSU’s Linkon to take post at Georgetown

Staff report

Youngstown

The Youngstown State University English professor who was the spokeswoman for the faculty union during contract negotiations with the university last fall is working on details for a job at Georgetown University.

Sherry Linkon, who’s been at YSU for 22 years, confirmed in an email that she is working out details for a position at the Washington, D.C., university. She won’t formally resign from YSU until that’s complete.

“I’ll be developing and directing a new writing program there, working with faculty across campus to find ways to help students in specific fields learn critical thinking, reading and writing strategies in their disciplines,” she wrote in an email.

Linkon also is host of the weekly “Lincoln Avenue” on WYSU radio where she interviews community leaders and others. She is the author, along with her husband, John Russo, of “Steeltown U.S.A.: Work and Memory in Youngstown,” published in 2003.

Russo, the coordinator of YSU’s labor studies program and co-director of the Center for Working Class Studies, plans to retire at year’s end.

“It’s a terrific opportunity, and while I’m sad to leave behind some great colleagues and a lot of significant connections locally, I’m looking forward to a new chapter,” Linkon wrote in the email.