O. Jerome Green, president of Shorter College in North Little Rock since 2012, has died, officials said Monday.
Green's death was unexpected, an official said. No other information was available.
"President Green's passing is a tremendous loss, not only to Shorter College but to the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the HBCU community," said Jeffery Norfleet, provost and executive vice president for administration, in a news release. "He was a great leader who cared deeply about students, faculty and staff. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife and family.
HBCU stands for Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
During his Shorter College leadership, Green increased enrollment. The private college had a fall 2023 enrollment of 755 students, a 32.9% increase from fall 2019, according to the state Division of Higher Education enrollment report.
He led the return of intercollegiate sports, added academic programs and carried out plans for returning residence halls to campus and establishing a $1.8 million technology hub at the site of a historic railroad depot in North Little Rock.
"We believe that what we are doing in conjunction with the city, economically, will improve and increase the viability of the area and encourage others to invest," Green said in a 2023 interview.
This year, the HBCU Campaign Fund named Green one of The Ten Most Dominant HBCU Leaders Award and Class of 2024. The list is an annual national recognition created by the Campaign Fund, a non-profit that advocates for historically black colleges and universities, and tries to help raise funds for scholarships and programs for them.
Green, 69, started his higher education career at Miles College, a private historically black college in Fairfield, Ala., as a communications professor and as director of government relations from 2005-2012. He practiced law in Little Rock from 1989-2005, according to his Linked In page.
Then-Gov. Bill Clinton appointed Green to the Arkansas Ethics Commission from 1991-1995. He was its chairman from 1994-1995. Later, as president, Clinton appointed Green to a six-year term on the Panel of Conciliators for the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a division of The World Bank. Green was also an external economic development consultant for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Business Administration from 1996 to 2000 and was a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee.
Early in his professional career, Green worked as an assistant city attorney for Pine Bluff. in 1991, Green became the first black partner in what was then the Little Rock law firm of Gill, Wallace, Clayton & Elrod. He was a clerk for three years for the late U.S. Magistrate John Forster at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
Green earned his Juris Doctor degree at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law in 1985; a master of arts in journalism from The Ohio State University in 1978; and a bachelor of arts in English Language and Literature/Arts from Miles College in 1976.