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, including oversight for the work of associate deans and assigned staff, as well as the coordination of faculty affairs.
"I am eager to work with the dean, faculty, staff, and students of the iSchool to make an already awesome School of Information Sciences even stronger and more impactful," said Downie.
Downie joined the iSchool faculty in 1998 and has served as associate dean for research since 2011. He has also served on the iSchool's Executive Committee as both an ex officio member and an elected member of the faculty.
"Stephen's dedication and deep understanding of our School's programs and community make him an excellent choice for this role," said Knox. "I look forward to continuing to work with Stephen as executive associate dean to move our School forward."
Downie's research interests include music information retrieval, digital libraries, and information retrieval evaluation. He serves as co-director of the HathiTrust Research Center (HTRC), a collaborative research center co-located at Indiana University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign that enables large-scale analysis of works in the HathiTrust Digital Library. He was principal investigator on the Bookworm text analysis project, joint principal investigator for TORCHLITE, and co-principal investigator for SCWAReD.
In addition to his contributions to digital humanities research, Downie is the founder and first president of the International Society for Music Information Retrieval (ISMIR). He holds a bachelor's degree in music theory and composition, along with master's and doctoral degrees in library and information science, all from the University of Western Ontario.