School of Information Sciences

Chu receives Beta Phi Mu Award

Clara Chu
Clara M. Chu, Affiliate Professor

iSchool affiliated faculty member Clara M. Chu, Mortenson Distinguished Professor and director of the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs at the University Library, has been selected as the 2018 recipient of the American Library Association's Beta Phi Mu Award. This award is given in recognition of the achievement of a library school faculty member or another individual for distinguished service to education for librarianship. This annual award, which consists of $1,000 and a citation of achievement, is sponsored by the Beta Phi Mu International Library Science Honor Society.

Chu holds a bachelor's degree from University of British Columbia and master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Western Ontario. Prior to her current position at the University of Illinois, she was a professor and department chair of the Library and Information Studies Department at University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Her previous position was as associate professor in the Department of Library and Information Studies at the University of California at Los Angeles.

She has received the Achievement in Library Diversity Research honor, served as co-chair on the Diversity Recruitment and Mentoring Committee at UCLA, and was recipient of the 2002 ALA Equality Award. Her leadership role of principle investigator for Program PRAXIS, A Pre-Doctoral and Recruitment Program for Tomorrow's Culturally Diverse Information Studies, informed the development of the Academic and Cultural Enrichment (ACE) Scholars program at UNCG to increase cultural diversity in UNCG's program and in the library and information field as a whole. Both of these projects were funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Chu was the winner of the 2015 Distinguished Service Award from the Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA), the association's highest honor. She is serving as the American Library Association’s (ALA) representative to the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO. In this capacity, she advocates for "the transformational role of libraries and ensuring information access for all, in strategic alignment with UNESCO priorities." She is active in many professional organizations, including CALA, ALA, Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALSIE), International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA) and others. In addition, she has been honored nationally and internationally with multiple awards that mark her commitment to excellence in the profession.

Chu's impressive multilingual contributions to the field include her extensive publication record of articles, over forty refereed articles and book chapters, as well as her co-authored book, "Educating the Profession: 40 years of the IFLA Section on Education and Training." She is a highly sought-after speaker, as well as an active consultant. She has successfully led at least sixty grants, many of them contribute to her interests in diversity and multiculturalism.

The Beta Phi Mu Award will be presented on June 24, 2018, at the ALA Annual Conference in New Orleans. 

Research Areas:
Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

iSchool researchers present at ILA 2025

School faculty, staff, and students will present their research at the 2025 Illinois Library Association (ILA) Annual Conference, which will be held on October 14–16 in Rosemont. The theme of this year's conference is "You Belong Here."

Craig named Illinois Library Luminary

Anne Craig, iSchool adjunct lecturer and senior director of the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI), has been inducted as an Illinois Library Luminary. The Illinois Library Luminary program, an initiative of the Illinois Library Association (ILA), recognizes those who have made a significant contribution to Illinois libraries.

Anne Craig

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. 

iSchool faculty and staff present at AISLE annual conference

Join the iSchool for the Association of Illinois School Library Educators (AISLE) annual conference, held October 5–7 at the I Hotel and Conference Center in Champaign, Illinois. The theme for the conference is “Libraries Build Connections.”

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