Class Notes

Becky Graham (MSLIS '20) is part of Gresham Smith's Learning & Development team, which was named a Top 50 team (globally) by OnCon as part of its annual OnCon Icon Awards. She wrote, "Part of our winning the award was the amazing work we did on transitioning to a new LMS—using all of the information science and instructional design skills I learned at the iSchool!"

Bridgette Hammond (MSLIS '21) presented at the international conference, "Archives of Traditional Culture: 100 + 10," hosted by the Archives of Latvian Folklore in Riga, Latvia.

Jason Katsion (MSLIS '21), deputy director of the Barrington Area Library District, was featured in the Illinois Library Association's Member Spotlight for the week of February 24, 2025.

Brandi Nahrwold (MSLIS '24) was promoted to Director of Library and Information Services at Trine University Main Campus in Angola, Indiana.

Ruth D. Nelson (MSLIS '14) has authored a new book, "Our Lady of the World's Fair: Bringing Michelangelo's Pieta to Queens in 1964," which was recently published by Cornell University Press-Tree Hills.

Andrew Rea (MSLIS '24) has recently begun a new position as the digital resources archivist with the Department of Archives and Special Collections at Kansas State University.

Anna Sielaff (MSLIS '23) is an associate member of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League [featured in the film "A League of Their Own"]. She has been doing research on former player Dottie Schroeder, who grew up in Champaign County. 

Jessica Smith (MSLIS '24) has authored a new Choose Your Own Adventure book, Curse of Great Winter Academy, under her pen name Jessika Fleck. It will be coming out on June 17, 2025.

Jeanie Austin (PhD '17) is co-principal investigator on a $2 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The grant will ensure continued support for the Expanding Information Access for Incarcerated People initiative at the San Francisco (CA) Public Library.

Henry Gabb (PhD '19) was appointed chair of the Board of Directors for the Linked Data Benchmark Council, a nonprofit organization that defines standard graph benchmarks and graph processing technologies.

Mandi Goodsett (MSLIS '13) is the recipient of the 2024 Jay Ladd Distinguished Service Award, presented by the Academic Library Association of Ohio. This award recognizes someone who has promoted academic libraries and librarianship not only on their own campus but also within the state.

In February 2025, Kristi Lear (MSLIS '18) was promoted to Archival Program Administrator, overseeing the Operations Division, at the Illinois State Archives. In September 2024, Lear was awarded the Ancestry Leadership Award at the Council of State Archivists Annual Meeting.

Nisha Mody (MSLIS '17), a life coach for Liberatory Dreamers and Trauma-Informed Facilitator for Libraries, will be hosting an orientation for her course, Trauma-Informed and Relational Care for Libraries, in June 2025.

Joshua Newport (MSLIS '13), math and science librarian at Illinois State University, was featured in the Illinois Library Association's Member Spotlight for the week of December 9, 2024.

Christina Norton (MSLIS '14) was featured in the Illinois Association of College & Research Libraries Forum (IACRL) Member Spotlight on February 28, 2025.

Ziba Z. Pérez (MSLIS '12) has been elected to serve on the American Library Association (ALA) Executive Board. Elected board members will begin a three-year term in July 2025 and conclude in June 2028. Pérez serves as a young adult librarian III at Los Angeles Public Library.

Catheryne Popovitch (MSLIS '11) has been appointed director of the Illinois State Archives. This past summer, she was also elected as President of the Council of State Archivists, a one-year term

Miguel Ruiz (MSLIS '13) has been named the new head of the Hispanic Reading Room at the Library of Congress.

Jordan Ruud (MSLIS '12) has co-edited a new book, Censorship Is a Drag: LGBTQ Materials and Programming Under Siege in Libraries.

Laura Sheets (MSLIS '12) was promoted to associate professor with tenure in the University Libraries at Bowling Green State University.

After spending a year as interim assistant dean, Zack Stein (MSLIS '16) became the permanent assistant dean of technical services at University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He also received tenure and was promoted to the status of associate professor.

Elise Tanner (MSLIS '15) has started a new position as the digital asset manager at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Amy Wildman (MSLIS '19) was recently promoted from assistant librarian to librarian at the Tolono Public Library.

Jamie Wittenberg (MSLIS '15), assistant dean for research and innovation strategies at the University of Colorado Boulder, has been elected as the new Board president of DataCite, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the visibility and accessibility of research, effective January 1, 2025.

Taliah Abdullah (MSLIS '03) has been appointed as executive director of The Urbana Free Library. She will begin her new role on July 7, 2025.

Honore Bray (MSLIS '06) retired as director of Missoula (Montana) Public Library in 2022. She is now vice chair of the board for "The Trust for MT Libraries." 

In September 2024, Linde Brocato (MSLIS '09, CAS '11) started her new job as a metadata librarian at the University of Arkansas Libraries.

Tiffany (Torbeck) Erickson (MSLIS '06) is publishing her first picture book, The Snack Thief, with Lawley Publishing on July 22, 2025. The book is described as "a delicious whodunit for ages 3-5."

As a solo librarian at his city’s community hospital, Salem Health, Paul Wilson Howard (MSLIS '04) has been part of a research project investigating a clinical staff resilience intervention. Project results have been published in the Journal of Nursing Administration.

Daniel Kraus (MSLIS '06) was interviewed by I Love Libraries, an initiative of the American Library Association, for Episode 11 of their podcast "How I Library."

Jan (Pye) Marry’s (MSLIS '04) debut novel "Sweet Tea and Anzac Biscuits" is being released in April. Set in a library, it contains a little bit of every library where she has worked or volunteered. The launch is in the Williamsburg Library in Virginia on April 27th, and everyone is welcome.

Lindy Smith (MSLIS '09) has started a new job as assistant director of the Special Collections Research Center at Syracuse University Libraries.

Mark Dibble (MSLIS '94) has been promoted to library director of the Blumberg Memorial Library at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, Texas.

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe (MSLIS '95) was elected to the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Governing Board.

John Klasey (MSLIS '94) retired as senior manager, knowledge resource management at DLA Piper in Chicago, Illinois, on January 3, 2025, after 38 years in the legal industry, including the last 25 at DLA Piper.

Jason Kuhl (MSLIS '99) began a new position as CEO of the Metropolitan Library System of Oklahoma County on January 6.

Bilal Salahuddin (MSLIS '92) retired as branch manager at High Meadows Branch of the Harris County Library System in Houston, Texas.

Frances Drone-Silvers (MSLIS '84) is the recipient of the Starfish Thrower Award from the Health Sciences Librarians of Illinois (HSLI). This award recognizes an HSLI member who has made a difference in the organization.

Lorraine J. Haricombe (MSLIS '88, PhD '92) will retire from her position as vice provost and director of the University of Texas Libraries at the end of August after leading the libraries for almost 11 years.

Molly Horio (MSLIS '89) is the recipient of the 2024 President’s Award from the Health Sciences Librarians of Illinois. The award recognizes an HSLI member who has made a lasting impact on the organization.

David Hunter (PhD '89) gave a lecture at the Clark Library at the University of California, Los Angeles. He said the lecture was part of the Karmiole Lecture series on the history of books and printing, "about which I learned so much from Prof. D.W. Krummel." 

Marcia Schnake Trauernicht (MSLIS '85) has retired from her position as university librarian at the Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York.

George M. Woolsey (MSLIS '82) passed away in October 2024.

Rita Bartholomew (MSLIS '76) passed away in March 2025. For most of her career, she worked as a reference librarian.

Sue Ann (Hamiter) Frizzell (MSLS '72) passed away on August 14, 2024, in Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Ann Marlow (MSLIS '73) passed away on October 24, 2024.

Delores (Thompson) Garrett (MSLIS '67) passed away on May 8, 2019.

Thomas Scott (MSLIS '68), retired library administrator in both the public and academic libraries, wrote to the School to express his gratitude "for the rigorous, comprehensive, and practical educational foundation I received, which enabled me, during the course of my career, to transition from card catalogs and Gaylord charging systems to the full-text retrieval of digitized content and archival materials."