Jerome Offord Jr. is the Director of Diversity Initiatives at ARL. He manages various initiatives that involve the recruitment and retention of librarians from underrepresented groups, including ARL’s Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce and the Leadership and Career Development Program, a diversity initiative that provides leadership and management training for experienced librarians from underrepresented groups. He also works closely with other offices within ARL to deliver workshops, training sessions, and seminars to the ARL community.
Prior to working at ARL, Jerome worked as the Director of Finance and Operations for Us Helping Us Inc., a small, Washington DC-based, nonprofit organization. He has over five years of experience as a student affairs professional at both the George Washington University and American University. He has been heavily involved in diversity programming and serving diverse communities throughout his career and is quite familiar with the culture of academic institutions. Jerome also has significant experience in grant writing and nonprofit management.
Jerome holds a BS in agriculture from Lincoln University (Missouri), an MS in student affairs in higher education from Colorado State University, and an MLS from the Catholic University of America. He is very involved with his fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., where he mentors high school students, coordinates an annual college tour, and is the Director of Budgets and Finance for Alpha Phi Alpha’s Eastern Region.
Publications
“Recruiting a Diverse Research Library Workforce,” by Jerome Offord Jr., ARL: A Bimonthly Report, no. 249 (December 2006): 8-10. [PDF]
“ARL Awards Stipends for Graduate Library Education,” by Jerome Offord Jr., ARL: A Bimonthly Report, no. 242 (October 2005): 11. [PDF]
“ARL Recruits Minority Undergraduates to Research Librarianship,” by Jerome Offord Jr., ARL: A Bimonthly Report, no. 233 (April 2004): 4-6. [PDF]
“ARL Partners with NAACP to Commemorate Brown vs. Board,” by Jerome Offord Jr., ARL: A Bimonthly Report, no. 233 (April 2004): 6. [PDF]
“ARL/MLA Selects 2003-2004 Leadership and Career Development Program Class,” by Jerome Offord Jr., ARL: A Bimonthly Report, no. 229 (August 2003): 9.
For more information about ARL’s Diversity Initiatives, please e-mail Jerome Offord Jr.
