Professor Emerita Linda C. Smith has returned to the iSchool on a part-time basis as interim executive associate dean for faculty affairs. In this role, she will provide leadership for iSchool faculty affairs and administrative oversight for the work of the School's associate deans.
Smith retired as professor and executive associate dean in 2019. During her 42-year career at the iSchool, she taught courses concerning information organization and access, reference and information services, and information sources and services in the sciences; advised many doctoral students; and served for 20 years as associate dean for academic programs including Leep online.
"I am grateful for the opportunity to return to the iSchool in this new role with a focus on support for faculty development during a period of rapid growth and change under the leadership of Dean Santos," Smith said.
Smith is the recipient of numerous honors, including ALISE awards for her teaching, service, and contributions to LIS education; the Award of Merit and Outstanding Information Science Teacher Award from ASIS&T; the Beta Phi Mu Award for distinguished service; selection as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; and recognition as an Illinois Library Luminary. She is a prolific writer who has authored books, journal articles, chapters, reports, and conference papers. Routinely named to the University's List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent, she was selected as a University Distinguished Teacher-Scholar in 1999.
Smith received her MS/LIS from Illinois, MS in information and computer science from Georgia Institute of Technology, and PhD in information transfer from Syracuse University.