By Angela Hatcher, News Editor
This past fall, Ifeolu Claytor was in his political science class, Supreme Court Decisions, waiting for his favorite professor to show up. He received a text from one of his friends saying Mr. Yearwood, the director of the Office of Diversity Affairs, wanted to see him. He asked why. His friend told him that his professor, Augustus Jones, had passed away.
Claytor went to a meeting that he had with Yearwood, everyone saying a couple words about Professor Jones. After the meeting, the shock of his passing started to settle in over Claytor.
Around five o'clock on Friday, the last of the semester, Claytor broke down in Mr. Yearwood's office. Yearwood handed him tissues and hugged him. He comforted him. He consoled him.
"He was there for me," said Claytor. "And it was such a comfort to be in the presence of someone like him who told me I would get through it."
Gerald Yearwood was born and raised in Harlem, New York. He attended St. Augustine's College, now University, in Raleigh, North Carolina where he majored in sociology and social welfare and minored in political science.
His mother, Joyceline, a nurse by trade but also a den mother and community activist, set an example of humble service for Yearwood.
"A lot of her characteristics and the things that she did in terms of helping other people kinda fell on me in a lot of ways," Yearwood said. "And so as time went on, I learned how to understand that it is better to give than to receive and so that's always been something I've done. I've always believed in helping others because so many others have helped me."
Yearwood has since dedicated his life to helping and serving others. Eventually, through the work of fate and the help of a childhood friend, Linda Dixon, Yearwood ended up at Miami University.
Dixon worked at Miami for many years as the director and associate dean in the Rinella Learning Center. She has since retired.
"She was very instrumental in getting me to come to Miami University ... she and I met at a conference and she was ranting and raving about Miami," Yearwood said.
When the position for assistant director of career services became available in July 1999, Yearwood jumped at the opportunity.
He has been in Office of Diversity Affairs (ODA) since 2009 where he serves as the senior administrative director.
"It's been a very interesting time, no question about that," he said.
A time that many students have been grateful for, Claytor, specifically.
When Claytor was a senior in high school, his sister, a 2008 Miami alumnus, was excited to have Claytor visit and more importantly, to meet Mr. Yearwood.
When Claytor and Yearwood finally met, he told Claytor how successful he would be at Miami how he could get involved in student organizations like Associated Student Government (ASG).
"Seeing that connection he made to students affected me and my decision to attend Miami," said Claytor. "He left that big of an impression on my sister and her sorority sisters, he made an impression on all of us."
Yearwood's goal has been to remind students, administration, faculty and staff of the importance of making diversity a priority at Miami.
"I think that, in more ways than one, we are a very fragmented community," Yearwood said. "And I would like to see that changed." Yearwood said.
Although Yearwood said he recognizes it won't be easy work, it can be done if the Miami community believes in and fully supports the effort.
Yearwood believes he has been able to get students, faculty and staff that he engages with often to understand his passion and commitment for diversity and inclusion. Yearwood referred to his progress as making "inroads."
Yearwood said he is hopeful that whomever takes his place can take this effort to promote diversity and inclusion to the next level. However, even he has experienced doubts and challenges along the way.
" ... There were mornings when I would wake up and get prepared for work when I would ask myself: 'Is this a worthwhile endeavor?' 'Am I really going to make any change?' so there was a lot of speculation on my part, but I think that in order to win you have to have a certain attitude and you gotta feel that you can only lose if you don't compete," said Mr. Yearwood. "And so therefore I had to be competitive not only with myself, but with the goals that I set for my staff and for this office."
His co-workers in the ODA, Yvania Garcia-Pusateri, assistant director and coordinator of diverse student development and Shevonne Nelson, assistant director and coordinator of GLBTQ Services, describe him as the type of person who gets up at 5 a.m. every day to be an advocate and be present for students.
"I try to not overwhelm myself, but I also try to make sure that the goals that I set for myself for that particular day, that I complete them," said Yearwood. " ... and just trying to be a surrogate in more ways than one to whatever it is that [students] experiencing on a daily basis and how that affects them as students here at Miami University."
While Yearwood's retirement will be a bittersweet affair, both Garcia-Pusateri and Nelson recognize that it is time for him to move on.
"He needs his freedom, he needs his time to enjoy his life. It's the right time," said Garcia-Pusateri.
"He's the best boss, best 'work dad' ever, such a 'work dad,'" said Nelson.
Yearwood is going to miss a lot of people here at Miami--his coworkers, his peers, his students and everyone else who has helped him succeed.
"I mean, even people that worked as support staff who I've established relationships with, the people who put the screws in the door or exchange a lightbulb, I know them as well," said Yearwood. "They're very important to me. And all those people will impact me in some way as I depart from this institution."
Yearwood prides himself on the fact that he's been able to see students transition from undergraduates to graduates to developing professionals. To graduating seniors, he wants to remind them that although it's not going to be easy, they should still stay hopeful.
"But as my mother used to always tell me, 'Sell to your peaks and not to your valleys.' Be strong, stay focused. And always remember that there's always a light at the end of the tunnel," said Yearwood.
Serving as director of the ODA has given him a better understand of the human condition, he said.
Yearwood had a clear mission for his time at Miami: "To be an advocate, to be a mentor and to be as sincere as you possibly can in order for your constituency that you serve to become successful at whatever they chose to achieve academically and professionally."