{{ site.title }}

ARL Diversity Scholars Selected for 2015–2017

ARL-leadership-symposium-resume-workshop-2013
photo by Jennifer Champagne

Members of the ARL Committee on Diversity and Leadership have selected 18 master of library and information science (MLIS) students to participate in the 2015–2017 Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce (IRDW) as ARL diversity scholars.

Underwritten by ARL member libraries, the Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce offers numerous financial benefits to program participants as well as leadership development provided through the ARL Annual Leadership Symposium, a formal mentoring program, career placement assistance, and an ARL research library visit. 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.

James Bracken, dean of university libraries at Kent State University and member of the IRDW selection committee, said, “What I most love about the ARL Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce is its practical intentionality about diversity with real outcomes. ARL’s members are investing in building an increasingly diverse and qualified workforce. Additional evidence of the program’s effectiveness is that this year’s pool of applicants is not only more diverse than in previous years, but also more highly qualified and reflective of a broader range of timely professional interests. The ARL IRDW is a home run for the profession of librarianship.”

Fellow IRDW selection committee member Mary Case, university librarian and dean of libraries at the University of Illinois at Chicago, added, “It is humbling to review the applications of so many individuals who are already so very accomplished in their lives. I know that the diversity scholars, and in fact, all of the applicants, will be successful in the pursuit of their library degrees and am assured that the future of the profession is in very good hands.”

The 2015–2017 ARL diversity scholars are:

  • Elisandro Cabada, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Caitlin Corbett, University of Oklahoma
  • Erica Ervin, University of Washington
  • Jesus Espinoza, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Stephanie Dawson Everett, Kent State University
  • Elizabeth Gadelha, University of Michigan
  • Jessica Dawn Humphries, University of Washington
  • LaTeesa N. James, Wayne State University
  • Kimberly Ann Kelly, Wayne State University
  • Monique Libby, University of Maryland, College Park
  • Erik Byron Ponder, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Sony Prosper, Simmons College
  • Theodore Quiballo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
  • Sarah Reis, University of Washington
  • Edwin Schenk, St. Catherine University
  • Denisse Solis, Kent State University
  • Nicole Strayhorn, Florida State University
  • Tracy A. Walker, Wayne State University

Funding for the ARL Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce is provided by ARL member libraries. A full list of supporting, IRDW Signature Institutions is available on the ARL website.

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


About ARL

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 124 research libraries in the US and Canada. ARL’s 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/.

, ,

Affiliates