Kate McDowell (MS ’99, PhD ’07), GSLIS associate professor, has been appointed assistant dean for the Office of Student Affairs as of August 16, 2014. McDowell has been serving as interim assistant dean since January and will continue to oversee admissions, advising, career services, and recruiting while managing Student Affairs as it expands its services and renews its focus on student engagement.
“Our mission is to foster a learning experience that enables students to reach their individual goals in a balanced, healthy, inclusive student environment,” said McDowell. “We support a full roster of advising and career events (available on the GSLIS calendar) as well as ongoing individual student consultations. This semester, we’ll have a survey and several open meetings in late October to gather feedback on Student Affairs work.”
Students Affairs will also be organizing Lightning Talks on Saturday, October 11, during which students make quick presentations about their current projects. This will be just one of many activities planned for LEEP weekend. Staff will also be working on a new event called Course-apalooza in late October.
“Course-apalooza will let both on-campus and online students connect with instructors and allow instructors to promote their exciting spring course offerings," said McDowell. "The format will be a combination of short talks and info tables.”
“I’m delighted that Kate has accepted this position. Kate has been here at GSLIS in one role or another for over 15 years; she has rich and discerning understanding of all aspects of the School, and has always been deeply committed to understanding and improving the student experience,” said GSLIS Dean and Professor Allen Renear.
McDowell has been a member of the GSLIS faculty since 2007. She teaches and conducts research in youth services librarianship, the history of readers, and storytelling and has published articles in Children and Libraries, Book History, Libraries and the Cultural Record, and Library Quarterly.