GSLIS Assistant Professor Emily Knox has been named a 2015 Instructor of the Year by the Web-based Information Science Education (WISE) Consortium. Knox was nominated by students for her excellent instruction in the Fall 2015 course, Intellectual Freedom and Censorship (LIS590FRL), which was initially developed by Knox in partnership with the Freedom to Read Foundation and with support from that organization’s Judith F. Krug Memorial Fund.
“It’s an honor to receive this award, and I’d like to thank the students who nominated me,” said Knox. “There are a lot of moving parts to the class, and it would be quite difficult to do it alone, so I’d also like to thank Joyce Hagen-McIntosh of the Freedom to Read Foundation for her help with contacting guest speakers and finding supplemental materials for the course. I’m looking forward to teaching intellectual freedom again in the fall.”
Knox joined the GSLIS faculty in 2012. Her research interests include intellectual freedom and censorship, the intersection of print culture and reading practices, and information ethics and policy. Her book, Book Banning in 21st Century America, addressing challenges to materials in public libraries and schools, was published by Rowman & Littlefield in January 2015.
Knox received her PhD from the doctoral program at the Rutgers University School of Communication & Information. Her master’s in library and information science is from GSLIS. She also holds a BA in religious studies from Smith College and an AM in the same field from The University of Chicago Divinity School.
Cofounded by GSLIS Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Programs Linda Smith, WISE is a partnership between seventeen schools with the shared goal of providing a collaborative, cost-effective distance education model that will increase the quality, access, and diversity of online education opportunities in library and information science. Member institutions use advanced technology as a means to enrich LIS education and foster relationships among students, faculty, and universities through course sharing.