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Alumni E-News / July 2008
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Issue 19 - July 2008
Dean's WordGreetings iSchoolers. Welcome to the summer 2008 edition of our newsletter for alumni and friends of the School of Information. It's shaping up to be an important year in the history of our school. As I write, we are finalizing designs for our new space at 1616 Guadalupe, where the School will be housed in 40,000sf of newly renovated space next summer. The latest schedule has us moving to the new space in August 2009, just before classes start, and the plans provide for greatly improved research and student space. We have also been busy recruiting this semester and have hired a third faculty member for the coming year. We've also added a new development associate and if you visit, you will find our front desk staffed by two new receptionists, Bekka Martin and Morgan McMillan, both of whom are also students here. In this issue you'll also learn that the faculty have been very successful in securing external grants, making this a record year for the school as we cross the $2m mark. On top of these developments, we've graduated several new doctoral students who have accepted faculty and research positions across the country. All this, and we are only in July! As always, let me remind you that while your time in the school is brief, you remain a part of us throughout your life and career, so stay connected and help us to attract and shape the next generation of leaders in the information professions. iSchool Faculty secure over $2.3 million in New GrantsDr. Lynn Westbrook (PI), with Dr. Luis Francisco-Revilla and Dr. Gary Geisler (and Dr. Michael Khoo, Drexel University) received $1m from the Institute for Museum and Library Services for their project entitled "Cultivating Digital Librarianship Faculty: Tomorrow's Leaders in Research and Curriculum Development". Dr. Megan Winget received $225,000 as a Career Development Grant to advance her research entitled: "Video Games and the Cultural Record: Studying the Creation Processes and Artifacts of the Video Game Industry for the Purpose of Collection and Preservation". more... A collaborative research team from UT's College of Engineering and School of Information received a $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to teach construction professionals to incorporate cutting edge technology into everyday tasks. The team plans to use this new federal grant to scale up their work into a unified learning environment easily copied and customized to local conditions. In this expanded effort, Dr. Randolph Bias, who is also Director of the iSchool's Information eXperience Lab, will provide a systematic user-centered design component to the technology and training modules. more... Dr. Pat Galloway will lead the iSchool effort as a partner in the project, "Building the Future of Archival Education and Research" with the University of California, Los Angeles (lead institution), the University of Maryland, University of Michigan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of Pittsburgh, Simmons College, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The project gathers leading archival educators to address the shortage of professors in archival science by providing at least four doctoral two-year fellowships in archival-related topics, to be supplemented by the host institution. more... Another new faculty member to join the iSchoolMelanie Feinberg, a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington will join the faculty here in January 2009. She earned her Masters from the iSchool at Berkeley, and a BA in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford University. Already she has published several papers, including refereed conference papers at ASIST, and was winner of the Emerald Publishers Best Student Paper Award at the 2007 CoLIS conference in Sweden. She has taught indexing at UW, has strong research interests in knowledge organization, and has worked professionally as a content strategist for Scient Corp and as an editor and instructional designer for Apple. Melanie becomes the third faculty hire we have made for AY 2008-09. UT Roundup at 2008 SAA in San FranciscoAt the UT Roundup during the Society of American Archivists annual meeting in San Francisco this year, iSchoolers will begin developing plans for a grand reunion when the SAA meets in Austin in 2009. If you are attending SAA, or just near San Francisco, by all means come join the UT Roundup on Thursday, August 28, from 7:45 to 9:45, in the Hilton San Francisco. If you can't come to the Roundup this year, by all means let us know what you would like to do in the reunion, and even more, plan to come back to Austin in 2009 to see your classmates. Kilgarlin Center Hosts the 6th Annual Edible Book FestivalKilgarlin Center Hosts the 6th Annual Edible Book Festival. To see photos please visit the EBF website at Edible Book Festival. New development Officer Joins the SchoolCassie Alvarado joined the iSchool team in May as our development specialist. Cassie brings a broad background to the iSchool and most recently worked in fundraising and managing board affairs for the Fort Wayne Ballet in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This is a new position at the iSchool, and Cassie will work closely with director of development and the dean's office to coordinate alumni relations, special events, annual giving efforts, and the activities of the iSchool Advisory Council. In MemoriamJoanne Hawkins, (MLIS '66) died on February 11, 2008. Before her retirement she completed 40 years at the UT library where she was the Senior Associate Director of Public Services of the University Libraries. Obituatry Roy M. Mersky died on May 6th. Roy held the Harry Reasoner Regents Chair in Law Director of Research and was Tarlton Law Library Director. Professor Mersky received his B.S. in 1948; a J.D. in 1952; and, a Master's degree in Library Science in 1953. A strong human rights activist and committed advocate of legal libraries, Roy helped shape the careers of hundreds of the leading law librarians in the nation both through his classes and his long-term mentoring. Roy held a faculty appointment in the School of Information and was instrumental in advancing the school's program in legal librarianship that is now ranked #3 in the nation. Alumni NewsHermina Anghelescu, (PhD '00) Wayne State University Library and Information Science Program faculty member with co-authors John H. Heinrichs, Janice Utz, and Jeen-Su Lim was recognized for the "Best Business Paper" at the 2008 American Institute of Higher Education Conference for their paper entitled, "Testing an Integrated Model of e-LearningAdoption Decision". Emily Bergman, (MLS '76) the Interim College Librarian at Occidental College, edited New Supervisors in Technical Services: A Management Guide Using Checklists, and published last summer by the Library Administration and Management Association. Emily has also been re-elected to a second two-year term as LAMA Secretary. See http://www.alastore.ala.org/SiteSolution.taf?_sn=catalog2_pn=product_detail&_op=2406 Char Booth, (MSIS '05) was noted by Library Journal as a "Mover and a Shaker" for her innovative work encouraging collaboration at Ohio University's Alden Library. See http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6535081.html Kathy Bork, (MLIS '81) received the Jeanette Bower Big Bend Area Volunteer of the Year award. Emily Chapman, (MSIS '07) will be the librarian at Brushy Creek Elementary School in Round Rock, TX. Ellie Collier, (MSIS '06) was recognized by ALA as an emerging young leader. See http://wikis.ala.org/emergingleaders/index.php/Ellie_Collier Daniel Cornwall, (MLIS '96) was also noted as a "Mover and a Shaker" by Library Journal for his work at the Alaska State Library. See http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6535099.html Elaine Davis, (MLIS '95) is retiring from her position as the on her retirement as the Library Director of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. Yohannes Gebregeorgis, (MLIS '91) is currently working in Ocean Branch, New Jersey. is the founder of Ethiopia Reads and a CNN Hero. Yohannes has been instrumental in opening several children's libraries in Ethiopia. He has also published a number of bilingual children's books (Amharic and English). Please see CNN Story and Ethiopia Reads . Kathleen Houlihan, (MSIS '08) was recognized by the UT Libraries as a recipient of the Harold W. Billings Staff Honors Award. Danielle Plumer, (MSIS '03) now at Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin, TX received and IMLS grant award of $535,556. The Project Title is "Train to Share: Interoperability Training for Cultural Heritage Institutions". The Texas State Library and Archives Commission, with the University of North Texas Libraries, Amigos Library Services, and other partners, will develop a workshop program, "Train to Share," under the Texas Heritage Digitization Initiative for Texas librarians and other cultural heritage professionals. Faculty NewsYou can find details of the latest faculty publications on our website, including full text of many papers, at publications. This is shaping up to be a great year for faculty research publications with work appearing in many leading journals. Professor Fran Miksa retired this spring and marked the occasion on April 29th entitled, "Information Organization and the Mysterious Information User." Family, friends, faculty, colleagues from around Texas and many former students were in attendance. Fran was appointed Professor Emeritus of the School of Information. Professor Loriene Roy concluded a successful year as ALA President at this year's ALA Annual Conference in Anaheim CA. She will serve as Immediate Past-President for 2008-09. Her year involved a remarkable amount of travel and many significant media events through which she brought continued attention to our work here at the School of Information. Professor Barbara Immroth presented the Ezra Jack Keats Lecture at the Children's Book Festival, University of So. Mississippi. The lecture was funded by the Ezra Jack Keats Foundation. In June Professors Immroth and Lukenbill presented at the Health Information Plus: Informing the Health and Future of K-12 Students at the University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center Library. The UT School of Information was a co-sponsor of the conference. Professor David Gracy II, Governor Daniels Professor of Archival Enterprise, was elected to a Member-at-Large seat on the executive board of the Library History Round Table of ALA. Dr. Gracy has entered phased retirement with a half-time appointment at the school over the next three years. Dean Andrew Dillon was the keynote speaker at the OU SLIS Alumni Weekend 2008 in Norman, OK in April. Students NewsSpring 2008 Graduating ClassForty students graduated with a Master's in Science in Information Studies in spring 2008 and have entered the workforce across the nation. A sampling of the jobs spring '08 Master's graduates are entering include positions as Archivist at the National Archives and Records Administration, Information Architect at the UT Libraries, Librarian for Islamic Law at Harvard Law School Library, Librarian for King County Libraries in Seattle, Records Analyst at Vermont State Archives and Records Administration, Kress Fellow in Rare Book Conservation at The Morgan Library and Museum, Photograph Archivist at the Montana Historical Society, and Project Assistant Conservator at The New York Public Library. An additional three graduates received a PhD and were recognized at the spring 2008 convocation: Maria Elena Esteva, whose dissertation, "The Aleph in the Archive: Appraisal and Preservation Of a Natural Electronic Archive," supervised by Patricia Galloway, Associate Professor. Dr. Esteva is joining the Texas Advanced Computing Center as a digital archivist. Maria Elena Gonzalez, whose dissertation, " 'Crises' in Scholarly Communications: Insights From Forty Years of the Journal of Library History." Her faculty supervisor was Patricia Galloway, Associate Professor. Dr. Gonzalez will be joining the faculty of the Wayne State University Library and Information Science Program as Assistant Professor; Tatiana Nikolaeva Nikolova-Houston, whose dissertation, "Margins and Marginality: Marginalia and Colophons in South Slavic Manuscripts During the Ottoman Period (1393-1878)" was co-supervised by Don Davis, Professor Emeritus and Philip Doty, Associate Professor. Gilok Choi will also complete her doctoral studies this summer. Her dissertation examines user navigation in virtual environments. She will join the faculty of Pratt Institute's School of Library and Information Science in Fall as an Assistant Professor. The UT Department of Geological Sciences honored April DeRome and Caitlyn Lam (GRA's at the Walter Geology Library) as winners of this year's Thelma Lynn Guion Geology Library Staff Award. The students were recognized at the honor's day ceremony where they received a commemorative plaque and $300 cash award. iSchool students receives Emerald Publishing Awards. Kelly Jensen won the Best Paper award and was honored in June at the American Library Association Conference. Jill E. Anderson received honorable mention. Two iSchool students receive Texas Library Association Scholarships. Emily Hersh received the 2008 Garrett Scholarship ($1,000) and Jeannine Hershey received the 2008 Janeway Scholarship ($2,000). Incoming student, Lela Ellison, will be the recipient of the 2008 recipient of the Century Scholarship presented by the Association of Specialized and Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA). See ASCLA Award Announcement Career ServicesLibrary Journal Salary Surveys 2007 and 2008 Graduating Class The iSchool Career Services Office is gathering information from our May 2008 graduates and all of our 2007 graduates concerning the types of jobs they have obtained, how long it took to find their jobs, and salary information. Your participation provides a valuable resource for:
Please take a few minutes to complete the appropriate salary survey by going to: Survey. If you do not have the password information to the survey, use the email link provided on that page to receive the appropriate password information. Where Are Our International Students Now?The career services office started an Alumni Careers listing over two years ago. To date, we have almost 300 alumni who have posted their job information to the site. Unfortunately, we have not been able to locate many of our international students who graduated and, in many cases, are working throughout the world. If you are one of our international graduates, or you are in contact with any of our international graduates, please let them know we are seeking their participation. All that is needed is an e-mail to Careers with the following information:
Supporting the iSchoolWith state funds accounting for less than 18% of UT's operating budget, every gift to the School of Information helps our students in ways that otherwise would not be possible. Annual gifts are a vital source of funding that allows students to attend conferences and the school to host special programs and bring in distinguished speakers. Major gifts, planned gifts, and endowments provide the backbone of support for student scholarships and are essential for our ability to attract and retain the most competitive students and faculty members. Regardless of the amount or the designation, your gift is an investment that always pays a large return and has a long-term meaningful impact. To show your bid of confidence and support of the future of LIS education at UT, please visit Support. You can also contact our development officer, Luke Dunlap, directly at luked@ischool.utexas.edu or by phone at 512.471.8421. Contact UsFor more information, feel free to email us at info@ischool.utexas.edu. Last Modified: July 22 2008 15:10:21. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
