Vice Chair of Arts Committee Strives to Create Opportunities for Students

Art is a platform that allows people to express their thoughts, feelings, and intuitions out in the real world. Evelyn Lamden grew up having an appreciation for the arts and wanted to use her passion for the greater good.

An opportunity presented itself when former SDSU President Elliot Hirshman asked Lamden to join the Campanile Foundation Board of Directors. Now after serving more than two years on the board as the Vice Chair of the Arts Committee, Lamden has used her talents to focus on the arts programs while creating more opportunities for current students.

Lamden envisioned finding ways for the students to have their work in these programs be showcased to the outside community. One of the early challenges was trying to bridge the gap for supporting organizations and board members associated with the university to direct their attention towards the arts.

Through her position with the Arts Committee, she created a spotlight to raise awareness of the diversity of talent the visual and performing arts programs offer. “It allows people to think of our students as possible interns for their organizations when they need help,” Lamden said. “This would give our students real time experience.”

Lamden mentioned the board’s mission is never ending and they are constantly looking for ways to improve. Everyone involved is figuring out new routes to monetize their efforts to support students in the form of paid internships and scholarships to further advance their future careers.

The students have always been the driving force of what motivates Lamden. Fellow board members, along with SDSU’s faculty, staff, and school directors, are all about getting collective minds together to encourage new ideas that benefit the next generation. “She leads by example. Evelyn is always available and willing to show up and take any project and try to develop ways to approach them,” College of Professional Studies and Fine Arts Director of Development Elise Moersch said.

Lamden understands the significance of creating a pathway for student success. Both her two children, Leah and Chaz, were graduates of SDSU in the college of PSFA.

The connection to the Aztec family goes back far for the Lamdens. Along with her children, her husband Bill also graduated from SDSU. Her father-in-law, Dr. Charles W. Lamden, played a large part in founding SDSU’s Fowler College of Business Administration in 1955. He served as the college’s dean from 1955-1965. The School of Accountancy is named after Dr. Lamden.

The content within this article has been edited by Lizbeth Persons.