iSchool faculty, staff, and students will participate in the Research Conference on Communications, Information and Internet Policy (TPRC 2025), which will be held from September 18–20 in Washington, DC.

Simit Shah worked as a consultant for Deloitte in India before enrolling in the MSIM program to strengthen his analytical and business skills. Over the summer, he applied the knowledge gained from his iSchool coursework during an internship as a technology risk consultant at EY.

A new book co-edited by Professor Emeritus Alistair Black and Associate Professor Bonnie Mak, along with Toni Weller (De Montfort University) and Laura Skouvig (University of Copenhagen), provides a field-defining, comprehensive study of information history. The Routledge Handbook of Information History, released last month by Routledge, examines how society, politics, culture, and technology have shaped information practices over millennia. The 638-page volume features more than forty contributors from around the world.

MSLIS student Nathaniel Allen (Nat) Pila has been selected as the 2025 recipient of the Ruth Fine Memorial Student Loan, awarded annually by the District of Columbia Library Association (DCLA). The award will support Pila as he begins his studies in the iSchool at the University of Illinois. 

The iSchool at Illinois is pleased to announce the publication of Library Trends 73 (4), the culmination of a two-part series on artificial intelligence (AI) in libraries. In "Generative AI and Libraries: Applications and Ethics, Part II," authors apply an academic lens to AI usage and how this rapidly evolving technology is impacting everything from ethics to instructional strategies. Librarians will also find insight into how students and faculty perceive AI and its place in the classroom.

Associate Professor Jessie Chin has received a $215,000 grant from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (NMSS grant RFA-2411-44091) for a two-year project to improve how people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) manage depression. 

Fifty-seven iSchool instructors were named in the University's List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for Spring 2025—a record number for the School. The rankings are released every semester, and results are based on the ratings from the Instructor and Course Evaluation System (ICES) questionnaire forms maintained by Measurement and Evaluation in the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning. Only those instructors who administered ICES at least once during the semester and who released their data for publication are included in the list. 

Interim Dean and Professor Emily Knox is among the five professors at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who have been named 2025 University Scholars in recognition of their achievements in teaching, scholarship, and service.

PhD student Owen Monroe reflects on his internship with the National Endowment for the Humanities Office of Digital Humanities, held from May to December 2024. Last month, the NEH programs officer Monroe worked with during his internship discussed some of their work at the Digital Humanities conference in Lisbon, Portugal. 

The iSchool is pleased to welcome Nick Giacchina as its new director of advancement. He will work with iSchool alumni, donors, and the University of Illinois Research Park to align their philanthropic interests with the School's programs and goals.