The PhD degree program at the iSchool celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2023. This profile is part of a special series featuring PhD alumni. Miriam Sweeney (PhD '13) is an associate professor at the University of Alabama.

The iSchool is pleased to announce that Rachel Adler will join the faculty as an associate professor in August 2023. She currently serves as an associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at Northeastern Illinois University. 

Joey Kennedy joined the iSchool in July as senior IT specialist. In this position, he will supervise the Help Desk graduate assistants and provide course and general IT support for the School.

The iSchool is pleased to announce that Travis L. Wagner will join the faculty as an assistant professor in August 2023. They currently serve as a lecturer in the College of Information Studies at the University of Maryland.

Associate Professor Dong Wang is the lead author of a book that introduces a new paradigm integrating edge computing, humans, and artificial intelligence (AI). Social Edge Computing: Empowering Human-Centric Edge Computing, Learning and Intelligence (Springer) is coauthored by Daniel "Yue" Zhang, research scientist at Amazon Alexa AI. 

Lauren Ochs joined the iSchool in July as school librarian licensure coordinator. Her new duties include advising students about coursework and field experiences leading to school library licensure and/or endorsement; placing, supervising, and evaluating students in schools around the state in field experiences, such as practicum and student teaching; and aligning the school librarian licensure program with state and national standards.

Leep (MSLIS online) students Amanda Helm and Kaitlyn Weger have been selected to receive scholarships from the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI). The scholarship provides financial assistance to current employees of CARLI Governing Member Libraries who are pursuing a master's degree in library and information science (MSLIS) at the University of Illinois. CARLI provides library services and support to 128 Illinois public universities, community colleges, private colleges and universities, and special libraries.

PhD student Zachary (Zak) Kilhoffer sums up his research interests in two words: tech policy. He joined the iSchool in 2021 after working overseas as a labor economist.

PhD student Smit Desai received the Gary Mardsen Travel Award to present his research at the ACM conference on Conversational User Interfaces (CUI) 2023, which was held on July 19-21 in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The award, worth $2,500, supported Desai’s travel expenses.

Ethan Henderson (MSLIS ’07) is more than a staff member at the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research. The funds that he raises as the foundation's senior director of advancement benefit him personally, as someone with Parkinson's disease.