UT iSchool Alumni E-News - October 2006

[alums at ischool.utexas.edu]

Alumni E-News
The University of Texas at Austin, School of Information
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/
Issue 15 - October 2006

Welcome! In this issue:

- Dean's Word
- New Assistant Dean for Student Affairs
- Festschrift Commemorates Donald G. Davis, Jr.
- New Professor Dr. Megan Winget
- Undergraduate Minor in Information Studies
- Flawn Academic Center Houses New iSchool Offices
- In Memoriam
- Alumni, Faculty, Student, and Staff News
- Supporting the iSchool
- Contact Us


- Dean's Word

Greetings and welcome to the Fall 2006 edition of our e-newsletter for
graduates and friends of the UT School of Information. It's a busy
time at UT with searches open for several deans and a new Provost, not
to mention new faculty for our school too. Fall always signals the
admission of our largest cohort, and this year we welcome over 60 new
students. Our current student body totals 280, slightly up from this
time last year, including overseas students from 12 different
countries and 4 different continents who have chosen to make Austin,
Texas their home for a couple of years. We are delighted to welcome
them all.

As I mentioned in our summer e-newsletter, we welcome a new faculty
member to the school this semester. Megan Winget gained her PhD this
year from SILS at UNC-Chapel Hill, and is a specialist in the areas of
cultural records preservation, information organization, and access to
intangible artifacts. This semester she is teaching the Survey of
Digitization course and will add the Organizing and Providing Access
to Information course to her teaching duties in spring. We are hiring
again this fall, including a possible joint hire with the College of
Communications, so look for further new faces among the faculty in the
coming year.

Much of my time this semester is given over to preparing for our
accreditation review in spring, and I wish to thank all of you who
responded so quickly and positively to the various surveys we have
sent out to alumni and employers. The results have been very
informative, and it was great to read all the positive reports
employers provided on our graduates. As always, let me remind you to
stay connected, to offer opportunities for capstone projects,
internships or field experiences for our current students, and to use
our Career Services Office both for listing positions and to gain
advice or resources for your own career development. Your relationship
to the school does not end when you graduate; we want you to become an
active member of the iSchool network throughout your career, helping
to foster the school, its students and the field into the future. Stay
connected.


- New Assistant Dean for Student Affairs

Dr. Carla Criner has joined the iSchool as the new Assistant Dean for
Student Affairs. Carla has a BA and MA in French, as well as a PhD in
French Literature from Louisiana State University. Among her previous
professional jobs, she was the Acting Director of the Basic Language
Program in the LSU French Department, and has been a Graduate Program
Coordinator II in UT's School of Nursing and Psychology Department.
She is joining us from Psychology.

Among the responsibilities of this new position are the following:
1. Serve as the primary contact for prospective students; provide
information on academic programs and the application process.
2. Oversee the student application and admission process in
conjunction with the Graduate Advisor, graduate coordinator, and
faculty admissions committee.
3. Counsel and advise students in conjunction with the Graduate
Advisor; research student petitions and provide information for action
by Graduate Studies Committee.
4. Oversee and coordinate the student Capstone Experience; develop
potential projects in the community, recruit information professionals
to act as field supervisors, assist students in field placements, and
coordinate project presentations.
5. Collect student data from student systems, and generate statistical
reports of student data as needed.
6. Participate in student recruitment activities and new student orientation.


- Festschrift Commemorates Donald G. Davis, Jr.

The Center for the Book at the Library of Congress has republished a
festschrift to commemorate the retirement of Donald G. Davis, Jr.,
longtime School of Information faculty member and editor of Libraries
& Culture. For forty years he was involved with initiatives in library
history at local, state, national and international levels. The essays
originally appeared in the summer 2005 issue (v.40, no.3) of the
journal.

Entitled Libraries & Culture: Historical Essays Honoring the Legacy of
Donald G. Davis Jr., it was edited by Cheryl Malone, Hermina
Anghelescu, and John Mark Tucker and includes introductory essays by
John Y. Cole, Robert Sidney Martin and the editors and fifteen
scholarly essays by noted library historians arranged in four groups:
"Library History Education & Research," "Libraries, Books, & Culture,"
International Perspectives," and "Legacy of a Mentor." The essays
provide a portrait of some of the best work being done in the library
history field today. The work concludes with a chronology and
bibliography of the one honored, an essay about featured bookplates,
and a thorough index. The 312-page book is bound in dark blue cloth
and features gold stamping with the Library of Congress seal on the
back cover. An attractive dust jacket reproduces noteworthy bookplates
from the covers of Libraries & Culture and from the Rare Book and
Special Collections Division of the Library of Congress. It will be
distributed by Oak Knoll Press, New Castle, Delaware.


- New Professor Dr. Megan Winget

Megan recently received her doctorate from the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she worked as a research assistant for
the Microsoft funded Annotation Project, as a project manager for the
NHPRC funded Managing the Digital University Desktop project; and with
Minds of Carolina, a faculty self-archiving project. Her general
research interests include: preservation of the cultural record,
specifically intangible cultural materials, like Native American and
indigenous cultures, new media and time-based art, and ephemeral
movements or cultural moments in time. She is also interested in the
ability of collecting institutions (museums, libraries, and archives)
to preserve, curate, and provide access to these intangible materials
both physically and digitally. Specific research interests, which will
inform the general interests include: postmodern archival theory, the
archival concepts of context and provenance, and representation of
variable and/or non-textual media. Find out more about Megan,
including pointers to her publications, at:
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~megan/


- Undergraduate Minor in Information Studies

In the fall 2005 semester the iSchool began offering courses that
undergraduate students could use toward a minor in information
studies.  By the fall 2006 semester the number of unique undergraduate
classes offered by the iSchool has grown to 13 unique courses,
including a number of freshman seminars taught by full-time iSchool
faculty.  Among the topics covered in the courses are popular
long-term courses including "Children's Literature" and "Information
in Cyberspace."  New courses include "Introduction to Information
Studies," "We Like to Watch: Surveillance and Society," "Behind
Information Design," "Collaborative Technologies," and "Social Issues
in a Networked Society." The undergraduate minor in Information
Studies is offered through the schools and colleges at the University
that grant undergraduate degrees; students should discuss this option
with their advisors.  For more information please see
http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/programs/minor.php


- Flawn Academic Center Houses New iSchool Offices

The 3rd floor of the Flawn Academic Center (formerly the Undergraduate
Library) is gradually being occupied by iSchool assistant and
part-time instructors, doctoral students, and researchers.  Fifteen
offices have been allocated to the iSchool with an additional seven
offices coming into the iSchool's inventory in the spring 2007
semester.  Not only do the offices make undergraduate instructors more
easily accessible by their students, but also for the first time in
many years iSchool doctoral students will have space to study and
socialize.  The additional offices will also house dedicated research
space for the Information Experience Lab and research projects
overseen by Drs. Francisco-Revilla, Geisler, and Turnbull.


- In Memoriam

Linda Philips Hankinson, '74 passed away August 18, 2006. Linda was
the Head Librarian at Hockaday School (Dallas, TX) for 18 years and
also served as a faculty sponsor of the Community Service
Program. Linda is survived by her daughter, Lisa Hankinson Maher; her
son-in-law, Brendan Maher; her mother, Berniece Harrison Phillips; and
many loving relatives.

Laura Barcus McCowan, '69, passed away June 20, 2006 and was buried at
Austin Memorial Park June 28. Laura was a longtime Austin resident,
and her professional career was spent at the Austin Public
Library. She served as the library's Collections Coordinator for 11
years before retiring in 1980. Laura is survived by her son Jack
McCowan, her sisters Mary Margaret Wells and Jeannie Strange, and
their families.


- Alumni News

Linda Robinson (Barr), '83, was promoted to Manager, Public Relations
at WebFeat, Inc., and announces the second edition of the book she
co-authored, Web Research: Selecting, Evaluating and Citing, (Allyn &
Bacon, July 2005). She and John Brooks-Barr have been married 22 years
and have a 10-year old son, Connor.

John Brooks-Barr, '83, works for Plan-It Big, a specialty mural and
sculpted figure company in Canyon Lake, Texas. They have done sculpted
functional and decorative pieces for the Discovery Science Center
(CA), Joe's Crab Shack, Fiesta Texas, Buckhorn Saloon, and various
churches.

Walt Trybula, '99 has been named head of the Nanomaterials Application
Center at Texas State University, San Marcos.

Theresa Zelasko, '04, has joined the faculty at Southwestern
University, Georgetown as the new catalog librarian at the A. Frank
Smith, Jr. Library Center. Previously she was a member of the faculty
at the University of Memphis, serving as a catalog librarian in the
Ned R. McWherter Library.

Catherine Stollar Peters, '04, is a Professional Librarian
(specializing in electronic records and archives) at the Harry Ransom
Center. She originally began her work at the HRC as a graduate working
full-time there on a grant project (2003-2004.)  After graduating, she
worked on a project arranging, describing, and preserving a portion of
the electronic files of hypertext author Michael Joyce, and was moved
from the grant position to her current permanent
position. Additionally, she is also the liaison for the Texas Archival
Resources Online (TARO) consortium.

Jane O'Connell, '05, is one of the Tarlton Law Library's four new
Jamail Fellows. Jane, head of student services, joined Tarlton in
2004.  She graduated from the University of Kansas School of Law and
received her MSIS from the University of Texas in 2005.  Established
through the generosity of Lee and Joseph D. Jamail, the Jamail
Fellowship is awarded to members of the Library staff in recognition
of their outstanding service to the Jamail Center and the Law
School. The librarians who receive the award have made significant
contributions to the Law Library's collections, services, and esprit
de corps, and they have enhanced the reputation of the Law School and
the Center.

Dayna Dees, '06 is an elementary school librarian at Bluebonnet
Elementary in Round Rock, Texas.

Amy Fuller, '06, began as the librarian for Bedichek Middle School in
the Austin Independent School District this past August.

Helena Loh, '06, is working with the Global Knowledge Partnership in
Kuala Lumpur.  She is a Project Executive with responsibility for
subject content for their upcoming Global Knowledge event here in
Kuala Lumpur in December 2007.

Robin Spencer, '06,  is a librarian and campus technology coordinator
at Hollie Parsons Elementary School in Copperas Cove.


- Faculty News

Pat Galloway has authored a new book, Practicing Ethnohistory: Mining
Archives, Hearing Testimony, Constructing Narrative, a compendium of
twenty-one essays on ethnohistorical historiography. The essays,
preceded by a contextualizing introduction, are organized under four
topical heads: textual historiography, positive analytic methods using
nontextual physical evidence, ethnohistorical synthesis, and the
ethical-contextual issues of ethnohistory. The book is published by
the University of Nebraska Press, 2006. Details at:
http://unp.unl.edu/bookinfo/5058.html

Barbara Immroth is a member of the IFLA Standing Committee of School
Libraries and was recently a guest of the Japan  Library Association
where she toured the International Library of Children's Literature, a
division of the National Diet Library, the Tokyo Children's Library,
the Kodaira City Public Library,  and a bunko, a small library in a
family home that promotes reading and literacy for neighborhood
children.  Barbara was also appointed Chair of the June Franklin
Naylor Award Jury, which recognizes the author/illustrator of the most
distinguished book for children and young adults that accurately
portrays the history of Texas.

Loriene Roy was featured on the UT home page (Sept 25- Oct 1, 2006) in
recognition of her efforts to address illiteracy among Native
Americans. The article highlights Roy's work with "If I Can Read, I
Can Do Anything," an organization she founded to promote reading among
young Native Americans. According to Roy, "The mission of the program
is to assist Indian communities in increasing literacy skills while
preserving Native American culture...We provide consulting and support
services for tribal librarians while creating an online national
reading club for Native children." As mentioned in the article, the
organization has enjoyed this success: "For the 12 sites in which data
are available, seven reported increases in reading proficiency from
five percent to 43 percent one year after joining the program."
For the full article, please see:
http://www.utexas.edu/features/2006/reading/



- Student News

Jason Turner successfully defended his Ph.D dissertation on Sept 14,
2006. Entitled "The Communication of Influence through
Technology-Enabled Media", his research examined the nature of
influence messages in group settings supported by various media
configurations. Jason will move to Dayton Ohio to become an Assistant
Professor at the Air Force Institute of Technology's Dept of of
Engineering and Management.

Suellen Adams successfully defended her Ph.D dissertation on July 11,
2006. The dissertation, "Information Behavior and Meaning-Making in
Virtual Play Spaces: A Case Study of City of Heroes," examined how
groups and/or peer cultures are formed in the virtual play space of
Massive Multiplayer Role Playing Games (MMORPGs), particularly City of
Heroes; and how information behavior theories, including
meaning-making, and play theories, particularly in combination, might
serve to explain the phenomenon of group formation and maintenance.


- Staff News

Bette W. Oliver, the former assistant editor of Libraries & Culture,
has announced the publication of her new book entitled From Royal to
National: The Louvre and the Bibliotheque Nationale from Lexington
Books (Rowman & Littlefield) in December 2006. Her book concerns the
transformation of the two institutions from royal to national during
the period of the French Revolution (1789-1815).

Carol Carreon has been elected to the Executive Committee of the
Graduate Coordinator Network (GCN). The GCN, which was formed several
years ago by the Office of Graduate Studies is a bottom-up rather than
top-down administrative unit. According to Rick Cherwitz the
organization is critical to the health of graduate education at
UT. The fact that Carol was elected by her peers speaks volumes about
her commitment to graduate education and the confidence her fellow
Coordinators have in her.

Angelika Gonzales, financial analyst for the iSchool for seven years,
began her new responsibilities as the financial analyst in the UT
Office of the President on October 20, 2006.

Nicole Robichaux has joined the iSchool as an Administrative Associate
in charge of scheduling, e-news, inventory, and a host of other
exciting responsibilities. Nicole offices in SZB 564B and can be
reached by phone at 471-2297 or by email at nicoledr at ischool.utexas.edu.
Nicole has just been awarded her MA in English Literature and Ideas
(Renaissance-Enlightenment), from University College London, and she
has a BA in English from UT. She is joining us from the Registrar's
Office where she was an Editor I.


- 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 $20,000.

Dean's Excellence Funds
These funds support new initiatives and provide money for a wide range
of activities, including student research support, special equipment
needs and alumni events. As central funding to all units decreases in
proportion to rising costs, excellence funds are often our only source
of support for activities and resources that enable to school the
maintain its national visibility.

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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