Class Notes

Josh Falconer (MSLIS '22) was recently hired as senior ontologist at Bloomberg in Princeton, New Jersey.

Pim Halka (MSLIS '20) has a new role as the supervising reference librarian with Jefferson-Madison Regional Library in Charlottesville, Virginia. "I look forward to building the community engagement program at JMRL with skills I learned at the iSchool," Halka said.

Dyamond Hutton (MSLIS '21) has started a new job as a knowledge and research service coordinator at Mendelson P.C.

Eileen M. López (MSLIS '20) has transitioned from leading UX research to community college librarianship. In her current position as an adjunct faculty librarian for the City Colleges of Chicago, she embraces technology and ignites discovery, shaping the futures of adult and English-language learners in a dynamic learning environment.

Carolyn McMenamin (MSLIS '22), social studies teacher at Centennial High School in Champaign, was named Teacher of the Week in the January 11, 2024, issue of The News-Gazette. 

Helen Salkeld (MSLIS '22) has accepted a position as a school-age/teen librarian at Athens Drive Community Library in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Jessica Smith (MSLIS '23) was featured in The News-Gazette article, " Meet the Champaign County Forest Preserve District's new collections coordinator."

Anna Coats (MSLIS '11) has been elected to the ALA APALA (Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association) leadership board.

Sam Helmick (MSLIS '12) has been selected as a candidate for president of the American Library Association for the 2025-2026 term.

Ana Lučić (PhD '17), a research scientist at the Applied Research Institute at the University of Illinois, received a Digital Humanities Advancement grant to develop a method to computationally identify the paratextual elements within the digitized book collections in the HathiTrust Research Library.

Amanda McGrory (MSLIS '18), archivist and collections curator for the U.S. Olympic and Parlympic Committee, is featured in the American Libraries podcast, "The Wide World of Librarians in Sports." 

Nisha Mody (MSLIS '17) has created a course called Trauma-Informed and Relational Care for Libraries.

Thomas Padilla (MSLIS '14) will deliver the opening keynote at NISO Plus 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland.

Ted Quiballo (MSLIS '17) was featured in the Evanston RoundTable on February 2, 2024.

Conrad Remington (MSLIS '17) married Greg Remington (née Alvarez) on February 29, 2024.

Devin Savage (MSLIS '11) has been nominated to stand for election for Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) vice-president/president-elect in March 2024.

Daniel Smith (MSLIS '18) recently became the genealogy librarian at the Cook Memorial Public Library District in Libertyville, Illinois. He is very excited to turn a passion into a profession.

In 2023, Nicholas Stark (MSLIS '11) was promoted to branch chief of research services at the IRS Office of Chief Counsel Library in Washington, D.C.

Kim Tipton (MSLIS '18), reference librarian at the McHenry County College Library, was featured in the Illinois Library Association's Member Spotlight for the week of March 11, 2024. 

Steven Ward (MSLIS '15) has started a new "dream job" as reference librarian for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Illinois.

Tamela Chambers (MSLIS '05) has been promoted from branch manager to district chief at the Chicago Public Library.

Adriana Cuervo (MSLIS '05) assumed the role of director of Special Collections and University Archives at Rutgers University Libraries on January 23, 2024. She brings to this role over eighteen years of experience in special collections administration, collections development, and management.

Lori Drummond-Cherniwchan (MSLIS '06) recently retired after serving as the teacher-librarian at Auburn High School in Rockford, Illinois, for more than 20 years.  She now teaches ESL part-time at Rockford University.

Eric Edwards (MSLIS '06), interlibrary loan librarian at the Illinois State Library, was the Illinois Secretary of State Employee of the Month for March 2023. The Secretary of State’s Office has approximately 4,000 employees across 21 departments, one of which is the State Library.

Diana Eynon (MSLIS '04) began her new role as a clinical assistant professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in January 2024. She is the languages cataloging coordinator in the Acquisitions & Cataloging Services unit of the University Library.

Nell Fleming (MSLIS '08, CAS '14) is in her fourteenth year as librarian and archivist at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf in Delavan, Wisconsin, the nineteenth-century circus capital of the world.

Daniel Kraus (MSLIS '05) has received a 2024 Alex Award from the American Library Association for his book Whalefall. The awards are given to the ten best adult books that appeal to teen audiences.

Erin Mayhood (MSLIS '02) has been appointed as chief executive officer of Mentor Collective.

Sarah McHone-Chase (MSLIS '05), director of the University Library at Aurora University, was featured in the Illinois Library Association's Member Spotlight for the week of January 8, 2024.

Elizabeth D. Muller (MSLIS '08) started a new position as lead metadata strategist in the MIT Libraries in September 2023.

Lisa Nichols (MSLIS '05) was recently hired as the director of the education library at the University of Kentucky.

John Repplinger (MSLIS '02) has authored and illustrated his debut middle-grade (MG) fantasy novel, Amara and the Giant's Ring: The Blue Mist, published by IngramSpark. 

Dawn Rutherford (MSLIS '97) has been promoted to regional manager at The Seattle (WA) Public Library.

Gennye Varvel (MSLIS '94), library operations associate for the Social Sciences, Health, & Education Library at the University of Illinois, received a 2023 Library Outstanding Civil Service Staff Award.

Scott G. Burgh (MSLIS '86) has successfully passed citizen initiative legislation to reduce research copy fees in Illinois Coroner Offices, signed by the governor as PA 103-73 in June 2023.  He serves as advocacy chair and recently elected president of the Chicago Genealogical Society.

Carol Leibiger (MSLIS '85) has been promoted to professor in the University Libraries at the University of South Dakota.

Diane Zabel (MSLIS '82) received the 2024 BRASS Excellence in Business Librarianship Award from the Reference and User Services Association, a division of the ALA.

Elise Henderson (MSLIS '79) passed away on April 9, 2024.

Anne Martel (MSLIS '67) passed away on January 12, 2024.