Oberlin's Women: A Legacy of Leadership & Activism

Roxane Berta Offner

Roxane Berta Offner (1930-present, OC 1951) was a social worker. She enrolled at Oberlin College in 1947 and majored in Sociology. While at Oberlin, she was a delegate at the Founding Convention of the New Youth Organization for the National Convention of the New Party. Offner also participated in Oberlin College’s Mock Convention in 1948. In the spring of 1950, she conducted research at the National Institution of Health and helped produce an orientation manual for new members of the Community Services Committee for the National Advisory Council of the Public Health Service. She was also elected as the secretary of the NAACP chapter at Oberlin College.

Offner graduated in 1951 and enrolled at the New York School of Social Work. In 1954, she was appointed as the executive secretary and editor for the departments of social action, programs, and synagogue administration for the Synagogue of America. She held the position until 1963. From 1969 to 1970, she worked as a community worker for the Legal Aid Society in New Rochelle. She was also a coordinator for Planned Parenthood during that time.

In 1970, she began working as a community services counselor for the Arthritis Foundation. She held that position until 1973, when she became a community liaison for the Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine at New York University Medical Center. Offner served as the deputy advocate for the New York State Office of Advocate for the Disabled from 1978 to 1992. From 1992 to 2000, she was a consultant for Lighthouse International, where she helped implement the Americans with Disabilities Act. She retired in 2002, but later served on the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Advisory Board for Westchester County. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Columbia University School of Social Work in 2006.

Sources
Salsich, Anne Cuyler. “Roxane Offner Papers, 1947-2006.” Last modified 2017, http://oberlinarchives.libraryhost.com/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=426

This page has paths:

This page references: