Senior Lecturer Maria Bonn will speak next week at the Academic Book of the Future conference, “The Future Space of Bookselling.” The event will be held on June 3-5 at Bangor University in Wales.  

While earning a master's degree, Rob Radtke completed a practicum at Dow AgroSciences, interned with the Boston Consulting Group's Data and Research Services Branch, and worked at the John Deere Technology Innovation Center in Champaign's Research Park. He credits his coursework and real-world experience with preparing him for professional roles in private industry, including his current position.

Several members of the GSLIS community will speak at the International Conference on Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries (QQML), which will be held May 24-27 at the University of London.

Assistant Professor Nicole A. Cooke will speak at the 2016 LACUNY Institute on May 20 at Brooklyn College. She will copresent a talk titled, “Interrogating Racism and Exploring Identity in LIS Classrooms: Collaborative Autoethnography in Social Justice Education,” with Robin Kurz, assistant professor in the School of Library and Information Management at Emporia State University.

GSLIS doctoral students Ruohua Han, Emily Lawrence, and Beth Strickland participated in a panel discussion at the 2016 Personal Digital Archiving conference, hosted by the University of Michigan Library on May 12-14.

Each year, the School recognizes a group of outstanding students for their achievement in academics as well as a number of attributes that contribute to professional success. The following student awards were presented at the School's Convocation ceremony on May 15, 2016.

Alumna Barbara J. Ford (MS '73) has been named an Illinois Library Luminary by the Illinois Library Association. This distinction honors individuals whose efforts have made a significant contribution to Illinois libraries. As director of the Mortenson Center for International Library Programs and Mortenson Distinguished Professor at the University Library, Ford brought librarians from all over the world to programs and events statewide.

Associate Professor Kate McDowell will deliver the opening keynote at the upcoming workshop, “Storytelling with Data.” Registration is open for the two-day workshop, which will be held at Illinois on June 21-22 and taught by Brant Houston, GSLIS-affiliated faculty member and professor in the College of Media.

“I became fierce at the University of Illinois—ready to learn, share, and grow,” says Parker Hamilton, whose education and attitude set her on a career path that led all the way to the directorship of a public library system serving more than one million people.

Center for Children’s Books Director Deborah Stevenson will moderate a panel discussion at School Library Journal’s 2016 Day of Dialog on May 11 in Chicago. The panel, “Some Nonfiction! Dynamic informational books for young readers,” will feature discussion of several unique, informative publications on topics ranging from giant squid to William Shakespeare.