The iSchool is pleased to announce the appointment of program directors for its master’s and doctoral degree programs. Assistant Professor Nicole A. Cooke is program director for the MS in library and information science (MS/LIS), and Assistant Professor Jana Diesner is program director for the PhD in library and information science. Cooke and Diesner join Professor Michael Twidale, program director for the MS degree in information management (MS/IM), in providing leadership for the iSchool’s highly regarded degree programs.

The iSchool will be well represented at the annual conference for the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE), which will take place from January 17-20 in Atlanta. ALISE '17 will explore how LIS educators and researchers can develop curricula, programs, and research activities that support partnerships with communities to manage and create change.

The iSchool and the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong are cohosting the workshop "Digital Scholarship Centers: Building Library Services for Data-Driven Scholarship" from November 28-30 at the University of Hong Kong.

Colin Van Orman (MS '15) joined the iSchool on November 1 as a graduate studies advisor. In his role, he will provide academic advising and program planning for students in the MS in library and information science (MS/LIS) program, as well as contribute to orientations and other student affairs programming.

To his many students, Professor F. W. "Wilf" Lancaster was a dedicated teacher and mentor with a down-to-earth quality, a father figure with warmth and hospitality, and one who always recognized their contributions to his research and writings. Lancaster's legacy as a teacher and scholar will live on at the iSchool with the creation of the Frederick Wilfrid Lancaster Scholarship for students enrolled in the new MS in information management program.

The first cohort of students in the iSchool's new MS in information management (MS/IM) degree program started classes this fall. More than forty strong, the group is nearly evenly split in terms of gender and includes a large number of international students.

Several University of Illinois iSchool faculty and students will participate in the 2016 Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) Annual Meeting, which will be held October 14-18 in Copenhagen, Denmark

Ninety-five Leep students traveled to campus from over twenty-five states for the iSchool's inaugural Welcome Weekend on September 23-25. During the course of the weekend, Leep students interacted with faculty and fellow classmates, learned about student organizations, and attended workshops on a variety of topics.

Nine iSchool instructors were named in the University's List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for Summer 2016. The rankings are released every semester, and results are based on the Instructor and Course Evaluation System (ICES) questionnaire forms maintained by Measurement and Evaluation in the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning

The University of Illinois is home to two extraordinary collections of modern reproductions of medieval Irish art, including jewelry, reliquaries, and manuscripts dating back to before the twelfth century. Many of these copies were acquired by the University around 1916, the year of the Irish “Easter Rising” against British rule.