New Education Scholarship Named for Beloved Teacher Linda Meyers Robinson
Posted on April 24, 2025 by CEPS Marketing and Communications
In 1972, a young woman with a passion for helping students with learning differences embarked on a path to earn an advanced degree from the University of South Alabama.
That was three years before a federal law mandated in 1975 that special education classes must be offered to children in public schools across the United States.
An early advocate for children with non-traditional learning styles, Linda Meyers Hixon chose to expand her own education so she could ensure students would receive the instruction they needed to reach their full potential. Within two years, Hixon earned her graduate degree in Special Education from South in December 1974.
“She strongly believed that every child deserves a quality education,” said her son, John S. Hixon. “She was so passionate about it.”
Fifty years after the landmark special education legislation became law, Linda Meyers Robinson’s family endowed a merit-based scholarship in her honor at South to ensure that other students who feel called to teach special education can have the opportunity to do so.
Starting in 2026, partial awards for the Linda Meyers Robinson Scholarship in Special
Education will be available to students enrolled in the College of Education and Professional
Studies who are pursuing a career as a special education teacher. By 2031, a full
scholarship will be available. The family would also like to acknowledge the importance
and generosity of the Mitchell-Moulton Scholarship Initiative. According to Linda's
brother David Meyers, “Although
our family was committed to endowing a scholarship in the name of Linda Meyers Robinson
at South, the Mitchell-Moulton match motivated us to increase the value of the scholarship
to a 'full ride' once fully funded. We know that would make Linda very proud".
“This scholarship represents a transformational gift that will bridge the gap between potential and opportunity for deserving students in our special education program,” said Angela T. Barlow, Ph.D., dean of the College of Education and Professional Studies at the University of South Alabama. “Investing in future special education teachers in this way is an investment in a world where every child, regardless of ability, can thrive.”
Robinson’s children, Hixon, Garret Chase and Gillian H. Rogers, say their mother, who died in 2007, would be extremely proud to know her name is attached to something aimed at helping more children receive the specialized instruction they need.
“Becoming a special education teacher is a calling -- a calling that Linda Meyers Robinson had and a calling that the recipients of the Linda Meyers Robinson Scholarship in Special Education will have,” noted Abigail Baxter, Ph.D., a professor of Special Education and Principal Investigator for PASSAGE USA.
Growing up, her children regularly witnessed their mother’s selfless acts, recalling the lengths she would go to help others. “If one of her students needed shoes or a coat, she would give it to them,” Hixon said. “On multiple occasions, my mother drove students to doctor’s appointments and then to the drug store to get prescriptions. Her job didn’t end at 3 p.m. when she clocked out of school.”
And when school would end for summer, Robinson continued to teach, often helping students make up lost ground during summer school.
“She recognized early on she could change lives and was always trying to figure out new ways to help students learn,” Rogers said. “There were no hopeless cases. Mom never gave up on anybody. She was always trying something new.”
Much of Robinson’s career was spent at what is now the Dunbar Creative and Performing Arts Magnet School, located on St. Anthony Street in downtown Mobile. A newspaper article from the early 1990s featured Robinson and detailed her commitment to students with learning disabilities. In the story, she explained that her teaching philosophy focused on personal attention: “You treat each child as if they were your own.”
A native of New Orleans, Robinson moved to Mobile after earning an undergraduate degree from the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.With a career that spanned more than 25 years, her children said she was always delighted when she would hear from former students.
It was at Robinson’s funeral that her family was reminded of the tremendous impact their mother had on so many. A parent of a child she taught attended the funeral and made a point of introducing herself and her child to the family after the service at Government Street Presbyterian that day. She wanted them to know how much Robinson meant to them. “She was a difference maker in this child’s life,” recalled Chase, Robinson’s oldest daughter. And while she never wanted recognition, “she would be overjoyed and so hopeful for the future of special education instruction in our area.”
CASANDRA ANDREWS
Associate Director | Marketing and Communications
candrews@health.southalabama.edu
(251) 445-8214