Arlinda Fair is an innovative education professional who is passionate about developing educational opportunities that help underrepresented minorities achieve college and career success. Throughout her career, she has worked for several higher education institutions, both public and private, as well as the Chicago Public School district. These professional experiences have helped to build her essential skills in the areas of enrollment management, marketing and program development. She is driven by new challenges and possesses a vested interest in opportunities to work with minority serving organizations and institutions in dynamic ways to provide youth with the tools needed to create change in their communities and make meaningful contributions toward the advancement of our society.
Born and raised on the south side of Chicago, Fair’s love affair with all things “southern” began the day she stepped foot on the campus of Jackson State University. Her years in Jackson, MS exposed her to the most beautiful aspects of the south. From Memphis to New Orleans, Atlanta to Dallas, she was enamored with the food, music and most importantly, the authentic people who call this part of America their home.
Fair graduated with a bachelor’s in business administration and returned home to Chicago to work for Chicago Public Schools, where she developed college and career programming curriculums designed to prepare minority high school students for college and career success. Yearning for warmer weather and southern culture, she returned to her alma mater in 2014 and earned her M.B.A.
In 2018, Fair relocated to Memphis, TN to help launch the Master of Arts in Urban Education program at Rhodes College. As the graduate program coordinator, she works closely with program faculty to develop new initiatives that encourage and support the enrollment of African-American, LatinX and first generation students in the program, including the development of innovative funding initiatives and cultivating partnerships with other colleges and universities. Through this work, her goal is to support Rhodes faculty in training the next generation of culturally relevant educators and strategically increase the brand awareness and visibility of Rhodes College as a graduate institution throughout the city of Memphis and the greater higher education community.
During her short time in Memphis, Fair has deepened her commitment to serving the local community in several different capacities. She is a member of JSUNAA Memphis Alumni Chapter and serves as chair of the Student Recruitment and Success Committee. Fair also volunteers in her community to provide support and accountability for the operation of 3 neighborhood charter schools in the Frayser and Klondike Smokey City neighborhoods as the chair of the Frayser Community Schools Board of Directors. Fair recently joined the Junior League of Memphis, where she has had the awesome opportunity to make some meaningful contributions toward the improvement of the Memphis community with other like-minded women committed to voluntarism.