Alumni E-News
The University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/
Issue 13 - April 2006

Welcome! In this issue:

Dean's Word
iSchool Ranked 7th in Nation
New IT Staff Member
Kilgarlin Conservator Students Portfolios Showcased
NEH Grant Awarded to Kilgarlin Center
Edible Book Festival 2006
Alumni and Faculty News
Upcoming Events
Supporting the iSchool
Contact Us



- Dean's Word

Greetings alumni. Spring 2006 brings new faculty and new students to
the School of Information. We welcome two new assistant professors,
Dr. Luis Francisco-Revilla and Dr. Gary Geisler, and both have hit the
ground running. You can read more about their research and teaching
interests below. We continue to hire new faculty, and we anticipate at
least one and possibly two further hires for fall 2006.

We also welcome a new cohort of students this spring, bringing our
current numbers to 280, made up of 79 males and 201 females. Currently
we have 23 foreign nationals from three continents and 13 countries,
and US nationals from 33 states. Half of our students are aged 30 or
under, and we continue to attract far more applicants than we can
admit. While it is wonderful to be able to recruit, we must also
decline admission to many high quality students, a disappointment to
many applicants. The reality is that the iSchool has a student:faculty
ratio of more than 20:1, the highest among graduate schools at
UT. Admitting more students is not a practical option if we wish to
provide a high quality education and to fulfill our mission of
educating the leaders of the profession. As we add more faculty, we
will not be increasing the student cohort as my goal is to
significantly lower that student:faculty ratio. Enrollment numbers are
the only index that matters for some schools. That is not the case at
Texas. As alumni of our program, I count on you to be able to
distinguish the education you received here from what may be offered
elsewhere.

Let me remind you to check our site regularly for news of events and
opportunities to partner with the school. Our educational process
involves opportunities for current students to work on projects with
alumni. This is a great way for you to stay connected and to help
shape the future of the school and the profession. We are always
looking for capstone projects, internships and work experiences so
don't hesitate to contact us if you would like to learn more.



- iSchool Ranked 7th in Nation

The latest rankings by US News and World Report place the iSchool 7th
in the nation. Read more about the rankings by clicking on:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/about/news/view_news_item.php?ID=129



- New IT Staff Member

A familiar face has returned to the iSchool community! Libby Peterek,
a 2004 graduate, will work with the IT Tech team as an information
analyst. Read more about Libby at:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/about/news/view_news_item.php?ID=127



- Kilgarlin Conservator Students Portfolios Showcased

Students pursuing the Certificate in Conservation Studies at the
iSchool have created online portfolios of their work showcasing
treatments, photo-documentations and research papers. These portfolios
have become an important addition to student resumes and highlight the
skills and experiences of these future conservators. Check them out
at: http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~cochinea/portfolio.html



- NEH Grant Awarded to Kilgarlin Center

A grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities will provide
significant support to the UT Austin School of Information's Kilgarlin
Center for Preservation of the Cultural Record. Funding from the NEH
will be directed primarily to support teaching and substantially
enhances the center's mission to focus national attention on
preservation by educating students, conducting research, sponsoring
symposia, and convening expert thinking on broad, timely, interrelated
topics that address the management of cultural heritage in the
nation's humanities institutions. Find out more at:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/about/news/view_news_item.php?ID=120



- Edible Book Festival 2006

On April 1 the Kilgarlin Center for Preservation of the Cultural
Record held its annual Edible Book Festival. The festival is an
international event that began in 1999 by a group of book artists and
features tasty delicacies all in the name of the book. Check out the
website at: http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~ebf/



- Alumni News

Michele Akyol, '05, will begin work on April 10 as a legislative
fellow in the office of Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine). She will be
responsible for defense research, conduct hearings, and assist with
bill mark-ups on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Laura Alfaro, '96, is a librarian facilitator with the San Antonio
Independent School District Library Media Services.

Jill Emery, '95, director of the Electronic Resources Program at the
University of Houston libraries, is the 2006 recipient of the Esther
J. Piercy Award. Jill was recognized for her success in the world of
serials librarianship, specifically her knowledge of electronic
resources licensing and pricing models. She will receive a $1500 grant
donated by YBP, Inc. and a citation in recognition of her
accomplishments.

Julissa Gomez-Granger, '03, now works as an information research
specialist at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC.

Brenda Gunn,'95 and president of the Society of Southwest Archivists
(SSA), and Stan Gunn '98, were mentioned in an article entitled "All
Hands on Deck" of the March 2006 'Movers & Shakers' supplement to
Library Journal for their role in developing the blog SSACares
(http://www.ssacares.org/). The blog was created to assist archivists
and archive victims of the 2005 hurricanes.

Sara J. Holmes, '02, is a conservator for special collections at Texas
Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. She recently completed a project
with the Vietnam Archive. You can read more about the project at:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/kilgarlin/news/alumni_student_news.php

Mike Widener, '91, has accepted a position at Yale University Law
Library in New Haven, Connecticut as a rare book librarian. He is
currently the rare book and special collection librarian at the
Tarlton Law Library at the University of Texas School of Law.

A successful alumni reception was organized at the ALA Midwinter
conference in San Antonio. It was great to see so many familiar faces
at Rosario's. Join us again on April 27th at the TLA conference for a
reunion dinner (see details in the upcoming events section below).

To read more about alumni go to:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/people/alumni_updates_index.php

If you would like to share your information with the more than 800
subscribers to this newsletter, please send an email to
chansen@ischool.utexas.edu



- Faculty News

Randolph Bias and Pat Galloway were both awarded tenure this
spring. Congratulations both!

Andrew Dillon is serving as Program Chair for the ASIST 2006 Annual
Conference to be held in Austin in November.

Two faculty members joined the iSchool this spring. Luis
Francisco-Revilla and Gary Geisler were both hired on as assistant
professors. You can read more about them and their research at:

Luis Francisco-Revilla
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/about/news/view_news_item.php?ID=119

Gary Geisler
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/about/news/view_news_item.php?ID=107

Barbara Immroth was invited to serve as a member of the Children and
Libraries Advisory Committee by the Association for Library Service to
Children (ALSC) president, Ellen Fader. In addition, she has been
asked to participate as a member of the 2006-2007 Graduate Recruitment
Fellowship Program with the Graduate Studies office at the University
of Texas at Austin.

Chela Metzger is the recipient of this year's Texas Exes Teaching
Award. The award is determined by currently enrolled students. Find
out more at: http://www.texasexes.org/news/recent_news.asp?id=131

Loriene Roy is a candidate for American Library Association (ALA)
president in 2007-2008. For additional information please go to:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/about/news/view_news_item.php?ID=114

A list of recent publications from faculty can be found at:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/research/publications.php



- Upcoming Events

April 26-28, TLA Conference, Houston
Stop by Booth #2106 and visit with iSchool faculty, staff, and students.

April 27, 6:30-9:30P, UT Austin/TLA Alumni Dinner
This year's catered dinner will be held at Grand Room banquet hall
(713-951-9313) at 1521 Austin Street, 2 blocks north of the George
R. Brown Convention Center, at the corner of Leland and Austin
Street.

May 20, 2:00P, iSchool Commencement
The iSchool commencement will be held in Jessen Auditorium in Rainey
Hall. Reception to follow in the Santa Rita room of the Texas Union.

Check out the events calendar for the school to learn about lectures
and speaker series as well as other special events at which your
attendance is always welcomed: http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/calendar/



- Supporting the iSchool

Gifts to the School enable us to provide more than 20 named
scholarships each year as well as to support student activities in
specialist areas such as archives, preservation, and services to
indigenous communities. Endowments can also create professorships or
teaching fellowships to attract the very best faculty to our
School. Excellence funds allow us to innovate and react to changing
needs. Such gifts significantly enhance the ability of our school to
educate professionals for careers that make a significant difference
for all of society, both now and in the future. All gifts are
welcomed, but we currently have special needs in the following:

Julie Hallmark Endowed Graduate Fellowship
Named in honor of recently retired faculty member Dr. Julie Hallmark,
this endowed fund needs to reach $50,000 to be established to provide
support for students in the area of special librarianship. It
currently stands at $16,000.

Dean's Discretionary Funds
These funds support new initiatives and provide money for a wide range
of activities, including student research as well as conference and
travel costs for students and faculty.

To make a gift online, see:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/development/
Be sure to specify School of Information in the relevant box and to
name the general area or fellowship you would like to support. Every
gift really helps. We thank you for your generous support.



- Contact Us

If you know someone who has graduated from our program and is not
receiving this electronic newsletter, please forward a copy and point
them to the subscription page on our site at
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/mailman/listinfo/alums

Moving? Need to update your alumni records? An "Information for
Alumni" page has been set up with various links to help make it
convenient for you to make changes. Go to:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/people/alumni.php to learn more.


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