Advisory Council

The School of Information Advisory Council is a board of appointed volunteers who actively assist the dean in the School's advancement efforts. Council members contribute to the school's advancement in a number of ways, including:

  • Provide insights to the Dean, faculty, and staff on how the School can enhance the impact of its services on various stakeholder groups
  • Provide advice and counsel to the Dean, faculty, and staff on strategy, important issues affecting the future of the School
  • Engage in, assist, and support the fundraising efforts of the School
  • Provide valuable contacts for students and advice in their career selection decisions and job-seeking activities, and provide input to the Dean, faculty, and staff for assessing the progress of the school and charting future courses
  • Provide valuable contacts for faculty to provide access to the business community for research purposes, to inform their research and teaching, and to help them further develop their research, teaching, and public service skills

Selene Arrazolo

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Selene is a Data Analyst at data.world, an Austin-based startup. She was previously the Director of Customer Support at Information Evolution. A former Catalog Engineer at Infochimps Inc., Selene earned her Master of Science in Information Studies from the UT School of Information in 2012, and is a graduate of Smith College. Before attending the iSchool and moving into the tech world, she was the Assistant Director of an art gallery and the Registrar of an art handling company, where she helped create the company's digital asset management system.


Calvin Boyer

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A twice graduate of the School of Information at The University of Texas; now twice retired, Dr. Calvin Boyer received his MLIS from UT in 1964, and then earned the first PhD awarded by the Library School in 1972. After completing his education, Calvin enjoyed a long and successful career in academic Libraries.


Lisa Cruces

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Lisa graduated from the School of Information in 2012 and currently serves as the Hispanic Collections Archivist at the University of Houston. Prior to her position at UH, Lisa was the Librarian-in-Residence at the University of Notre Dame.


Dr. Harold (Woody) Davis

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Dr. Davis serves as Group Manager of NAS Data Release and Senior Policy Advisor within Mission Support Services, Air Traffic Organization, Federal Aviation Administration, Washington DC. Prior to his current position, Woody has enjoyed a career working with organizations such as the Center for Naval Analysis, United States Air Force, FAA, Transportation Security Administration, Department of Homeland Security, as well as The University of Texas. He completed his JD at Baylor University and earned his MD at the University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio.


Sharon Fawcett

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Sharon recently retired from her position as Assistant Archivist for Presidential Libraries. She began her career in archives at the Lyndon Johnson library, and then pursued a career which would include 34 years in public service. Sharon received her BA from The University of Texas, and then earned her MLIS, also at UT.


Dean Hendrix

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Dean Hendrix is the Dean of Libraries for The University of Texas at San Antonio. Dean earned a Bachelor of Arts in the Plan II Honors Program and a Master of Library and Information Science from the University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on bibliometrics, research impact, data management, strategic planning, social networks and e-textbooks.


Gary Hoover

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Gary in an entrepreneur whose most notable ventures include founding BOOKSTOP Inc in 1982, which he later sold to Barnes and Noble, and Hoovers. Gary has a BA in Economics from the University of Chicago. He currently travels the world giving speeches and serving as a consultant. He is an active supporter of nonprofit entrepreneurship, particularly in education.


Caris Hurd

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Caris is a user experience designer and researcher at Four Kitchens, a web design and development firm in Austin. She completed her MSIS at the School of Information in 2013. Prior to attending the iSchool, she worked in the Austin tech industry as a web developer and a product manager. A two-time UT alum, she also holds a BBA in Management Information Systems from the McCombs School of Business.


Leticia Kinuthia

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Leticia is a Senior Enterprise Security Architect for Acxiom Corporation. She earned her Masters of Science in Information Security from the Royal Holloway University of London, UK. Her experience in Information Security spans over 15 years. Currently, she volunteers as an adviser for industry-sponsored projects for MS IT Audit and Security students at the McCombs School of Business, University of Texas at Austin. She is also actively engaged in volunteer projects that inspire girls to explore opportunities in STEM.


Mike Martinez

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Mike is Deputy Director of Administration and Professor at St. Mary's University School of Law. After receiving his bachelor degree in Government and Spanish from The University of Texas at Austin, he earned his JD from St. Mary's University School of Law, and his MLIS in Law Librarianship from the Texas iSchool.


Morgan McMillian

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Morgan McMillian became the Director of the Lake Travis Community Library in June 2009, shortly after receiving her MLIS from The University of Texas in May 2009. Additionally, she has a masters degree in Liberal Studies from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and a BA in English from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee.


Jeff Pirtle

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Jeff is the Director of Archives & Collections at NBCUniversal in Universal City, Calif. Before joining Universal Studios in July 2002 as Archivist for Manuscripts and Special Collections, Pirtle served as Museum and Archives Project Manager for the J.C. Penney Company in Plano, Texas. He has also worked for the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth and served as a graduate intern with the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles. Jeff holds a BA in History and an MA in Museum Science, both from Texas Tech University.


Michael Redding

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Michael is currently a Senior Developer and Experience Lead at Springbox, a digital agency in Austin. His expertise lies in bridging the gap between user experience and technical development, with a focus on interface and interaction design. He holds both a BA and MSIS from UT Austin, where he served as the graduate student body president.


Scott Reeve

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Scott is a retired research geologist for Shell's Deepwater Exploration division. He earned his undergraduate, graduate and doctoral degrees from The University of Texas College of Natural Science. The son of a librarian, Dr. Reeve has long been involved with the University of Texas School of Information.


Dr. Dale Ricklefs

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Dale recently retired as the director of the public library in Round Rock, Texas. As a committed professional, Dale served the city of Round Rock for 30 years. Although retired, she is still very active in the community, and is currently pursuing her PhD in Business-Leadership. She earned her undergraduate degree from Illinios Wesleyan University, and her MLIS from The University of Texas.


Christian Schley

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Ms. Schley is currently a consultant on a broad range of legal and information matters, after having practiced law for many years in both large law firm and large corporation environments, and serving as a senior level executive search professional to large law firm, corporate, and non-profit clients. She is a graduate of Smith College, with an M.Ed from Boston University, a JD from Emory University School of Law, and an MSIS from The University of Texas.


Catherine Schneider

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Currently, Catherine is the IT Manager for JR Schneider Construction in Austin. Catherine grew up in Austin, earned her undergraduate degree from Vanderbilt University, and returned to Austin to pursue her MLIS from the School of Information at The University of Texas. Since completing graduate school, Catherine has enjoyed a successful career with companies including Samsung Electronics, marchFIRST, Arthur Andersen, and the Texas Comptroller's office.


Sandra Sweat

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Sandra is a professor at the University of Texas and works as a corporate user experience researcher. She helps companies learn about their users and apply research to operational teams and technology (both backend and user interfaces) to improve experiences. Her current research focuses on research operations and community-based healthcare. Recent Citations: Towards Automated Quality Curation of Video Collections from a Realistic Perspective (2017). Todd Goodall, Maria Esteva, Sandra Sweat, and Alan C. Bovik. IEEE. User Guided Design: Building Confidence in Engineering Data Publication (2016). Sandra Sweat, Aditi Ranganath, Maria Esteva, and Maša Prodanović, SciDataCon. Persistence Statements: Describing Digital Stickiness (2016). John Kunze, Scout Calvert, Jeremy D. DeBarry, Matthew Hanlon, Greg Janée, and Sandra Sweat. Data Science Journal. Data Curation with a Focus on Reuse (2016). Maria Esteva, Sandra Sweat, Robert McLay, Weijia Xu, and Sivakumar Kulasekaran. JCDL Conference.


Darryl Tocker

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Darryl is the executive director of the Tocker Foundation, an Austin-based family foundation that supports libraries and library education in Texas. A Univeristy of Texas graduate in accounting, Darryl worked as an accountant for the Zales Corporation prior to starting the Tocker Foundation with his parents and uncle.


Robert Walton

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Robert is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of College Stores (NACS), the professional trade association for the collegiate retailing industry. Walton has also served as Vice President for Finance and Administration at Vassar College and Chief Executive Officer of the Claremont University Consortium. A former partner and software executive of several companies, Walton earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from UT Austin, and he spent a decade teaching information management and technology strategic planning at the School of Information.