Class Notes

Ellen Clark (MSLIS '21) works as a children's outreach librarian at Kokomo-Howard County Public Library in Kokomo, Indiana. She interacts with hundreds of children through her visits and programs such as the library's new sensory storytime.

Rebecca Greenlee (MSLIS '21) starts her new position as a law librarian in Danbury, Connecticut, on October 6, 2023.

Cordiah Hayes (MSLIS '22) has been promoted to teen librarian I at the Woodson Regional Library in Chicago. She previously served as the branch's library associate.

Joanna Jourdan (formerly Quint) (MSLIS ’22) was promoted to metadata librarian at William & Mary Law School's Wolf Law Library.

Alex Kennedy-Grant (MSLIS '22) became Head of the Avery Fisher Center for Music & Media at New York University in April 2023.

Ashlynn Maczko (MSLIS '21) has accepted the library director position at Great Falls College Montana State University. She started at GFCMSU in July 2021 as librarian.

Lydia Ochs (MSLIS '23) has started a new job as a children's librarian at Brooklyn Public Library. She is grateful to have taken many youth-focused classes at the iSchool and gained valuable experience working with families in practicum at the Champaign Public Library Douglass Branch.

Caelin Ross (MSLIS '20) became the performing arts librarian at Arizona State University in March 2023.

Tarida Anantachai (MSLIS '11), director of inclusion & talent management at the North Carolina State University Libraries, has been elected to the ACRL Board of Directors as a director-at-large.

Caitlin Archer-Helke (MSLIS '15), acquisitions and content support specialist at Dykema Gossett PLLC, was featured in the Illinois Library Association's Member Spotlight for the week of May 8, 2023.

Ann Baillie (MSLIS '17) was featured in an Illinois Library Association Member Spotlight for the week of April 24, 2023.

Sara Benson (MSLIS '17) has received the 2023 Emerging Award for Excellence in Public Engagement from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Michael DeNotto (MSLIS '12) has been appointed the acting head of research and instruction at the Van Wylen Library at Hope College in Holland, Michigan.

Thomas Dousa (PhD '14), metadata analyst librarian at the University of Chicago Library, received the 2023 Mary A. Grant Volunteer Service Award from the Catholic Library Association.

Hope Dunbar (MSLIS '15) recently accepted a new position as university archivist at SUNY University at Buffalo in Buffalo, New York.

Jeff Ginger (PhD '15) is serving as a research scientist for two NSF-funded projects, What-if Hypothetical Implementations in Minecraft (WHIMC) and the INVITE Institute.

Taylor Kirch (MSLIS '14) started a new position in March as a metadata technologist focused on Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence, and Human-in-the-Loop data curation at Netflix.

Shuyi Liu (MSLIS '19, CAS '23) began her new role as a faculty librarian in health sciences at California State University, Fresno in August 2023. Previously, she served as the international outreach services librarian at the Illinois Fire Service Institute Library at the University of Illinois.

Matthew Matkowski (MSLIS '18), head of public services at the Palos Heights (IL) Public Library, was featured in the Illinois Library Association's Member Spotlight for the Week for July 10, 2023.

Gail Murray (MSLIS '15) recently accepted the position of electronic resources and serials librarian at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Catheryne Popovitch (MSLIS '11), deputy director at the Illinois State Archives, is the 2023 recipient of the Mark A. Greene Emerging Leader Award from the Society of American Archivists (SAA). 

Dr. Sarah T. Roberts (PhD ’14) was elected as incoming vice-president of the Association of Internet Researchers (AOIR), a role she will assume in 2023. Roberts will then transition to lead the organization as its president in 2025.

Kimberly Shotick (MSLIS '11), student success librarian at Northern Illinois University, was featured by the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) as Member of the Week for July 10, 2023.

Zack Stein (MSLIS '16) has been appointed interim assistant dean of technical services at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, after having served as their head of special collections since 2018. He also recently received his Doctor of Education in educational leadership from the same university.

Andrea Thomer (MSLIS '12, PhD '17) received the 2023 Best Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology (JASIST) Paper Award for her paper, "Integrative data reuse at scientifically significant sites: Case studies at Yellowstone National Park and the La Brea Tar Pits."

Melissa Villa-Nicholas (PhD '16) has authored a new book, Data Borders: How Silicon Valley is Building an Industry around Immigrants, which will be released in July 2023 by UC Press.

Ann Zettervall (MSLIS '18) started a new position as a librarian at Hennepin County Library in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Joshua Finnell (MSLIS '07) has been appointed to a three-year term on the Depository Library Council (DLC) of the U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO). DLC members advise the GPO director on policy matters relating to the Federal Depository Library Program and access to U.S. government information. 

Kate Fultz Hollis (MSLIS '04) is co-editor of a new book, Clinical Research Informatics, Third Edition, which was recently published by Springer.

Michelle Kazmer (PhD '02) has been named dean of the College of Communication and Information at Florida State University.

Katie Kraushaar (MSLIS '04) has been appointed as dean of library and information services for Quincy University.

Sarah Lin (MSLIS '06) has authored a new book, Hands-On Data Science for Librarians, which was recently published by CRC Press.

Karla Lucht (MSLIS '07) has been selected to participate in NASPA's (Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education) 2023 Asian Pacific Islander or Desi American Leadership Academy (APIDALA). Participants will build critical competencies with APIDA professionals who are dedicated to leading in a vibrant, diverse, global, and socially-just higher education environment.

On July 19, NPR interviewed Safiya Noble (MSLIS '09, PhD '12) on the topic of how AI could perpetuate racism, sexism and other biases in society.

Robert Peck (MSLIS '08) passed away on July 30, 2023.

Cathy Ritchie (CAS '00) is a volunteer reader for Illinois Radio Reader, which was recently recognized by the International Association of Audio Information Services as Program of the Year in the Books on Air category for a book read by Ritchie. 

Catherine (Cathy) Ritchie (CAS ’00) has received the International Association of Audio Information Services's 2023 award for recording the year's best audio book for the blind, Call The Midwife. She records for the Illinois Radio Reader, housed on the UIUC campus.

Heidi Smith (MSLIS '05) was featured in the Illinois Library Association's Member Spotlight for the week of September 25, 2023.

Michael-John Voss (MSLIS '04) recently joined the faculty at Saint Louis University School of Law as an assistant law professor and law reference librarian and was appointed to serve on the Steering Committee for the Library Faculty Assembly. 

After 13 years as a civil rights attorney, Michael-John (MJ) Voss (MLIS '04) joined Saint Louis University as an assistant professor and reference librarian at the Vincent Immel Law Library. He teaches advanced legal research and IP research and presents on civil rights and nonprofit law.

Julia Warga (MSLIS '03) recently started a new job as director of the library-university librarian for John Carroll University's Grasselli Library and Breen Learning Center.

Marlo Welshons (MSLIS '02) has been named assistant executive director for the University of Minnesota Office of the Board of Regents.

Rachel I. Wightman (MSLIS '09) has authored a new book, Faith and Fake News: A Guide to Consuming Information Wisely, which was recently published by Eerdmans Publishing.

Deb Bier (MSLIS '94) retired from the Peoria Public Library in September 2023.

Paul Bracke (MSLIS '97) has been selected to serve as the next dean of the Wayne State University School of Information Sciences and University Libraries. His appointment will begin October 16, 2023.

Gwendolyn Harrison (MSLIS '97) has been elected as a director-at-large of the Illinois Library Association (ILA).

Gwendolyn Harrison (MSLIS '97), library program specialist at the Illinois State Library, was featured in the Illinois Library Association's Member Spotlight for the Week for August 21, 2023.

Robert Hu (MSLIS '92) has authored a new book, Research Guide to Chinese Patent Law and Practice, 2nd Edition, which was recently published by William S. Hein & Co., Inc.

Karen Schneider (MSLIS '92) has been appointed to the American Library Association (ALA) Executive Board to serve a two-year term, beginning July 2023.

Frances Ott Allen (MSLIS '83) passed away on February 23, 2023.

James A. Edstrom (MSLIS '84) has received the Russell P. Strange Memorial Book of the Year Award from the Illinois State Historical Society for his book, Avenues of Transformation: Illinois's Path from Territory to State.

Sandra Levy (MSLS '89), associate Slavic librarian emerita at the University of Chicago Library, passed away March 12, 2023, in Chicago.

Sandra Levy (MSLIS '89), associate Slavic librarian emerita at the University of Chicago Library, passed away on March 12, 2023.

Kathryn Harris (MSLIS '71) has been named interim director of Lincoln Library, the public library of Springfield, Illinois.

Gene Dewey (MSLIS '60) passed away on April 21, 2023, in Madison, Wisconsin.

John Littlewood (MSLIS '61) passed away on July 19, 2023.

John Littlewood (MSLIS '61) passed away on July 19, 2023. 

Eunice Weech (MSLIS '69) passed away on October 16, 2022.