I know that you can instantiate anonymous types with Linq but I am looking to instantiate an object I have already defined. Every time I do, all the properties are returned with their defaults (null, 0, etc.) Is there a way to make this work?

I've tried something like this:

ServiceDepartment[] serviceDepartments = (from d in departments orderby d.department_name select new ServiceDepartment { DepartmentID = d.department_id, DepartmentName = d.department_name }).ToArray();