Who's Who

Boston Adult Literacy Fund Staff

Joanne Appleton Arnaud, Executive Director

Joanne Appleton Arnaud graduated summa cum laude from Wellesley College and was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society. After receiving her Ph.D. in political science from Brown University, Ms. Arnaud taught political science at several colleges and universities and was co-founder of the Women's Studies Department at the University of Minnesota. This experience of working with older students awakened her interest in life-long learning.

Ms. Arnaud's work in continuing education and community development led to her becoming Executive Director of the Boston Adult Literacy Fund in 1989. She has written about participatory education with several of BALF's community literacy partners in From the Community to the Community and "Building on Community Strengths: A Model for Training Literacy Instructors."

Working for the Boston Adult Literacy Fund combines Ms. Arnaud's commitment to education and community development with her addiction to reading. She wrote about the BALF team's work "We are motivated to do more to make literacy skills accessible to all adults because literacy is a human right. We are constantly rewarded by our work with the adults who want to learn and with the committed community of literacy practitioners."

Rick Arnaud, Marketing Manager

Rick Arnaud attended American University in Washington, D.C. where he wrote for the American Eagle, the campus newspaper. After volunteering and then working with BALF as a consultant, Rick Arnaud joined the staff full-time in February of 2002. He has over 10 years of experience in graphic design and the marketing field, serving as Marketing Coordinator of AGENTics, Inc. and Marketing Specialist for Boardwalk Marketing, Inc. in Maynard, MA. As a freelance designer, he has consulted, created logos and designed layouts for many local community organizations and nonprofits.

Kerline Tofuri, Project Manager for English for New Bostonians

Kerline Auguste Tofuri received her BA in Cultural Anthropology from the University of Massachusetts in Boston. Her connection to the field of adult education started during her studies at the university.

Ms. Tofuri's background and experience as a speaker of other languages have reinforced her dedication to improve and share her literacy skills with others, in particular the immigrant population. She coordinated projects and taught English as a Second Language (ESOL) and External Diploma Program (EDP) at different adult and workplace education programs in the Greater Boston area. This experience of working with adults makes it possible for her involvement and commitment to her work at the Boston Adult Literacy Fund.