School of Information Sciences

McDowell to lead storytelling workshop for Municipal Clerks of Illinois

Kate McDowell
Kate McDowell, Professor

Associate Professor Kate McDowell will lead the workshop, "Using Storytelling to Persuade and Lead," for the Municipal Clerks of Illinois Institute and Academy on October 17. McDowell was invited by former senator Richard J. Winkel, Jr., who serves as director of the Office of Public Leadership at the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs.

The workshop will introduce clerks to the basics of storytelling ethics, provide some examples of how storytelling models help to frame big and small conversations, and move into an interactive session where participants will be able to think of story prompts, identify common stories in their work, and strategize ways of telling and listening to help them serve their communities.

"As I see it, this is a great opportunity to connect with public servants who are responsible on a daily basis for making municipal laws and regulations easy for their citizens to understand and follow," said McDowell. "In preparation, I spoke with Phyllis Clark, who has been an elected municipal clerk in Urbana since the late 1960s. She was incredibly helpful in introducing me to the kinds of work clerks do every day and how storytelling—and story listening—can help address public concerns."

McDowell (MS ’99, PhD ’07) has been a member of the GSLIS faculty since 2007. She recently was appointed assistant dean for student affairs following interim service in this role since January 2014. She teaches and conducts research in youth services librarianship, the history of readers, and storytelling, and she has published articles in Children and Libraries, Book History, Libraries and the Cultural Record, and Library Quarterly.

Tags:
Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

iSchool researchers present at CSCW 2025

Several faculty, students, and recent grads will present their research at the 28th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW 2025), which will be held October 18–22 in Bergen, Norway. The online portion of the conference will be held on October 10. 

Downie appointed executive associate dean

The iSchool is pleased to announce that Professor J. Stephen Downie has been appointed executive associate dean. In this role, he will work closely with Interim Dean Emily Knox to realize the iSchool's strategic goals and objectives. He also will provide leadership for the internal administration of the School, coordinate the work of associate deans and assigned staff, and facilitate faculty affairs.

Stephen Downie

Join the iSchool at the 2025 ALISE annual conference

Join iSchool faculty, staff, and students for the annual conference of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE), which will take place from October 6–8 in Kansas City, Missouri. The theme of the 2025 conference is "Decolonising Pedagogies: Agency, Identity, Practices."

AISLE awards to be presented to alumni, adjunct lecturer

Carolyn Kinsella (MSLIS '03), Beverly Frett (MSLIS '04), and Adjunct Lecturer Karen Egan have been selected to receive awards from the Association of Illinois School Library Educators (AISLE). They will be honored at an awards banquet during the AISLE Annual Conference, which will be held from October 5–7 in Champaign, Illinois.

School of Information Sciences

501 E. Daniel St.

MC-493

Champaign, IL

61820-6211

Voice: (217) 333-3280

Fax: (217) 244-3302

Email: ischool@illinois.edu

Back to top