The School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, the iSchool at Illinois, is pleased to announce its newest degree offering, the Bachelor of Science in Information Sciences + Data Science (BS/IS+DS).

iSchool faculty and students will present their research at the 8th International Conference on Computational Social Science (IC2S2), which will be held in Chicago on July 19-22. IC2S2 brings together academic researchers, industry experts, open data activists, and government agency workers to explore challenges, methods, and research questions in the field of computational social science.

A paper coauthored by PhD student Ziwei Wu and Associate Professor Jingrui He received the distinguished paper award during the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT). The interdisciplinary conference, which was held on June 21-24 in Seoul, South Korea, brings together a diverse community of scholars from computer science, law, social sciences, and humanities.

A research paper co-authored by Associate Professor Kyungwon Koh; Xun Ge, professor of learning sciences at the University of Oklahoma; and iSchool doctoral candidate Julia Burns Petrella has received a 2022 American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Research Grant by the Educators of School Librarians Section of AASL. Sponsored by ABC-CLIO, these grants recognize "excellence in manuscripts addressing a persistent and recurring challenge in the field of school librarianship." The awarded paper, "Librarian-Teacher Co-Teaching and the Role of School Librarians in Facilitating Inquiry and Maker Learning," was recently published in School Library Research. Recipients will present their papers in October at the 2023 AASL National Conference in Tampa, Florida.

Tamela Chambers (MS/LIS '05) serves as the branch manager of the Chicago Public Library's Beverly Branch. She is also the recipient of the 2022 Demco Black Caucus American Library Association (BCALA) Excellence in Librarianship Award, which recognizes librarians who have made significant contributions to the promotion of African Americans in the library profession. "I'm deeply honored to be a recipient of an award that so many others that I admire have received," said Chambers. "It is great to have my work acknowledged but is also a reflection of all who took the time to mentor/coach and instruct me on my path to librarianship."

iSchool alumni Jean Wilkins (MS/LIS '85) and Patricia Boze (MS/LIS '88) have been named Illinois Library Luminaries by the Illinois Library Association (ILA). This distinction honors individuals who have made a significant contribution to Illinois libraries. 

A new guide to children's literature includes a chapter on censorship by Emily Knox, associate professor and director of graduate programs. A Companion to Children's Literature, co-edited by Deborah Stevenson, former director of the iSchool's Center for Children's Books and former editor of The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, was recently published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Research Affiliate Lian Ruan (MS/LIS '90, PhD '11) has been selected as the recipient of the 2021-2022 Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) Outstanding Library Leadership Award in memory of Dr. Margaret Chang Fung. She was recognized at the CALA awards ceremony and board meeting on June 17.

Professor Catherine Blake is one of ten faculty members from across the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus who have been selected by the Carle Illinois College of Medicine as Health Innovation Professors (HIP). The new HIP faculty will collaborate with Carle Illinois students, physicians, and other health care providers to pursue new frontiers in health-related research and innovation, creating new opportunities for funding from government agencies, industry, and foundations. The new faculty members will also pioneer advancements in medical education and the integration of health-related concepts into undergraduate and graduate courses across the UIUC campus.

Doctoral candidate Qiuyan Guo has received a 2022 Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship from Beta Phi Mu, the international library and information studies honor society. Beta Phi Mu awarded six fellowships, valued at $3,000 each, to doctoral students who are working on their dissertations in LIS, information studies, informatics, or a related field. Guo received the fellowship for her dissertation, "Exploring Chinese Celebrity Fans' Online Information Behaviors and Understandings of Their Fandom."