YOLANDE P. MARLOW, PH.D.

Yolande P. Marlow, Ph.D., joined the staff of New Jersey Judiciary Administrative Office of the Courts in 1988. She presently manages the Minority Concerns Unit which reports to Theodore J. Fetter, Ph.D., Deputy Administrative Director of the New Jersey Courts.

In her current role, Dr. Marlow has provided staff support to the New Jersey Supreme Court Task Force on Minority Concerns. The Task Force on Minority Concerns, which was mandated to examine racial and ethnic bias in the New Jersey court system, issued its final report in June 1992. Presently she provides ongoing staff support to the permanent follow-up Committee, the Supreme Court Committee on Minority Concerns which was appointed by the Court “to oversee, monitor, and implement” the approved recommendations of the predecessor Task Force addressing issues of racial and ethnic bias within the judiciary. Dr. Marlow also oversees staff support to the Conference of Vicinage Advisory Committee Chairs and Staff and serves on various committees and working groups at the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Dr. Marlow is a founding member of the National Consortium of Task Forces and Commissions on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts (January 1989). This consortium of state commissions on racial and ethnic bias meets annually to share information and report on initiatives designed to rid the state court systems of all vestiges of bias and discrimination against persons of color. For 14 years she served as the first coordinator of the commission and she remains actively involved, presently serving on its board of directors.

Dr. Marlow, together with three former project directors of state task forces and commissions on racial and ethnic bias in the courts, co-authored Establishing and Operating a Task Force or Commission on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts (1993). This manual, a joint project of the National Consortium and the National Center for State Courts, was developed under a grant from the State Justice Institute.

Dr. Marlow has been a faculty presenter at numerous training seminars in the New Jersey Judiciary. She has also made presentations to the Conference of Chief Justices, at seminars and conferences presented at the National Center for State Courts, the New Jersey State Bar Association, several specialty bar associations in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, the Mid-Atlantic Association for Court Management, the Conference of State Court Administrators, the America Bar Association, and the First Annual Conference on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts among others. She has traveled throughout the United States consulting with other state court systems interested in establishing commissions on racial and ethnic fairness in the courts.

Dr. Marlow completed her undergraduate work in sociology at Morgan State University. All of her graduate studies were completed at the University of Pennsylvania. She has a doctorate in Social Systems Analysis (Wharton School) and masters degrees in Sociology and Criminology. She has been an adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania, Villanova, St. Joseph, Temple, and Morgan State Universities. She completed a post doctoral fellowship in Gerontology at the Philadelphia Geriatric Center and was also the recipient of an NIMH Fellowship in Suicidology at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.

She currently resides in Pennsylvania and has a daughter, son-in-law, and grandson who make their home in New York City. 

Updated February 27, 2008