The iSchool hosted a 130th anniversary celebration on June 25 at the American Writers Museum in Chicago. The event, which was held in conjunction with the American Library Association Annual Conference, included a keynote address and presentations, along with time for guests to mingle and explore the museum.

Professor Catherine Blake has been named associate dean for academic affairs. In this new role, she provides leadership and oversight for academic programs, including program development, curriculum coordination, and continuous improvement of educational experiences.

The iSchool Alumni Association (ISAA) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2022 Alumni Awards: Emily Knox (Distinguished Alumna Award), Pia Hunter (Leadership Award), and Ruth Shasteen (Distinguished Service Award).

Hanna Jeter (MSLIS '15) was an elementary school librarian who had just made the jump to middle school when she learned she would be teaching a class on digital citizenship and media literacy.

In honor of Professor Emerita Linda C. Smith's contributions to the field of library and information science (LIS), Anita S. Coleman and Martha Kyrillidou have coedited "Library and Information Science, Interdisciplinary Perspectives: A Festschrift in Honor of Linda C. Smith," which comprises Volume 71, Issue 1, of Library Trends. The journal is published quarterly by Johns Hopkins University Press and is available by subscription both in print and online in Project MUSE.

Doctoral candidate Nikolaus Parulian successfully defended his dissertation, "A Conceptual Model for Transparent, Reusable, and Collaborative Data Cleaning," on June 29.

This profile is part of the "PhD at 75" series celebrating the 75th anniversary of the iSchool's PhD degree program. Richard Urban (PhD '12) is a senior program officer with the OCLC Research Library Partnership.

Doctoral candidate Ruohua Han successfully defended her dissertation, "Exploring the Sharing of Autobiographical Memories and Memory Objects in Chinese Families," on June 15.

The American Library Association (ALA) will hold its 2023 Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago on June 22-27.

A project led by the Game Studies and Design program in Informatics is among the eleven proposals that were selected to receive funding through the University of Illinois Investment for Growth program. Since the program was created in 2018, the University has invested more than $78 million to provide seed funding for projects that generate revenue, advance the University's mission, and address areas of high and emerging student demand.