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ARL Diversity Scholars Selected for 2013–2015

ARL Leadership Symposium 2013, photo by Jennifer Champagne

The ARL Committee on Diversity and Leadership has selected 15 master of library and information science (MLIS) students to participate in the 2013–2015 Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce (IRDW) as ARL Diversity Scholars.

The ARL IRDW offers numerous financial benefits to program participants as well as leadership development provided through the annual ARL Leadership Symposium, a formal mentoring program, career placement assistance, and a research library visit hosted by the Purdue University Libraries. The IRDW is underwritten by ARL member libraries. This program reflects the commitment of ARL members to create a diverse research library professional community that will better meet the challenges of changing demographics in higher education and the emphasis on global perspectives in the academy.

Jeffrey Trzeciak, university librarian at Washington University in St. Louis and member of the IRDW selection committee, said, “I’m quite honored to have been part of the selection process this year. It was a stellar group of applicants, which made our jobs both more challenging and more rewarding. I am encouraged by the quality of individuals who chose to apply. It is a real indication of the appeal our profession has to a broad range of individuals from a variety of backgrounds.”

Fellow selection committee member Terry Birdwhistell, dean of libraries at the University of Kentucky, added, “The experience and expertise that this new generation of diverse students brings to graduate library programs across the nation speaks well for the future of our research libraries.”

The 2013–2015 Diversity Scholars are:

  • Joanna Chen, University of California, Los Angeles         
  • James Cheng, University of Texas at Austin
  • Andrea Devlin, University of Rhode Island
  • Rhonda Evans, Pratt Institute   
  • Pia Hunter, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Rhonda Jones, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
  • Melissa Kahili, University of Washington
  • Rebecca Nieto, McGill University
  • Paula Pascual, University of Michigan
  • Conrad Pegues, Kent State University
  • Sarah Pham, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Saira Raza, University of North Texas
  • Joel Sanders, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Nelson Santana, Drexel University
  • Madeline Sheldon, University of Michigan

For more information about the IRDW, visit the ARL Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce website.


The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 125 research libraries in the US and Canada. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, facilitating the emergence of new roles for research libraries, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the web at https://www.arl.org/.

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