Assistant Professor Jodi Schneider presented her research on argumentation mining at a doctoral workshop at the University of Fribourg in Switzerland on September 2-3. Her lecture and tutorials were featured during the University’s Language and Cognition program’s “Linguistic and Corpus Perspectives on Argumentative Discourse” workshop. Schneider discussed problem definitions, corpora, and argument annotation for mining arguments from text. 

Associate Professor Masooda Bashir will present her research on trust formation in human-agent collaboration at the Intelligent Systems Conference (IntelliSys) 2019, which will be held September 5-6 in London. The conference, which brings together researchers and practitioners from diverse fields, focuses on areas of intelligent systems and artificial intelligence and how they apply to the real world.

Associate Professor Carol Tilley shared her comics research at two conferences this summer: 6th International Comics Days, held at the University of São Paulo in Brazil, and the 2nd Annual Conference of the Comics Studies Society, held at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. At the latter event, she received an unexpected honor acknowledging her efforts to support comics scholars.

The iSchool is pleased to announce the appointment of David Hopping as a new visiting lecturer. He was most recently employed as an adjunct lecturer with the iSchool and Illinois Informatics Institute at the University of Illinois.

Associate Professor Victoria Stodden has been appointed to the Board of Trustees of the National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS), a nonprofit institution that conducts statistical science research. NISS was established in 1990 by the national statistics societies and Research Triangle universities to foster high-impact, cross-disciplinary, and cross-sector research involving the statistical sciences.  According to NISS Director James L. Rosenberger, Stodden's addition to the board greatly strengthens the institute’s expertise and connections within the arena of statistics in data science.

The iSchool is pleased to announce that Judith Pintar is now a teaching associate professor. In her new position, in addition to teaching core courses in the BS in information sciences (BS/IS) program, she will develop and teach courses related to game studies and interactive narrative design for both undergraduates and graduate students.

Historian and children's literature scholar Sara L. Schwebel has been named director of The Center for Children's Books (CCB) and professor of information sciences at Illinois. She previously served as a professor of English and women's & gender studies at the University of South Carolina (USC). Prior to her academic career, she taught English and history to middle school students in Connecticut and Virginia.

Masooda Bashir has been promoted to the position of associate professor at the School of Information Sciences, effective August 16, 2019. Bashir joined the iSchool faculty in 2013. She previously served as assistant director for social trust initiatives in the Information Trust Institute (ITI) at Illinois, where she led multiple ITI educational initiatives, including the Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates program and the Illinois Cyber Security Scholars Program (ICSSP). 

Associate Professor and BS/IS Program Director Emily Knox has been named the iSchool's Centennial Scholar for 2019-2020. Endowed by alumni and friends of the School, the Centennial Scholar award recognizes outstanding accomplishments and/or professional promise in the field of library and information science.

The iSchool is pleased to announce that Visiting Assistant Professor Melissa Ocepek will transition to the role of assistant professor, effective August 16.