The 2018 Illinois Library Association (ILA) Annual Conference will be held from October 9-11 in Peoria. The theme of this year's conference is "Libraries: All Inclusive." Visit with the iSchool at Booth #315 in the Exhibit Hall on October 10 and 11. The School will also host an alumni breakfast on October 11.

Assistant Professor Masooda Bashir has been named the iSchool's Centennial Scholar for 2018-2019. 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.

Lecturer Elizabeth Wickes (MS '16) has received a NumFOCUS Contributor Award for her contributions to Project Jupyter, a nonprofit, open-source project that supports interactive data science and scientific computing across all programming languages.

Michèle Valerie Cloonan (MS '84, PhD '88), iSchool research associate professor and professor of the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons University, has authored a book addressing the social, cultural, and political issues in cultural heritage preservation. Her book, The Monumental Challenge of Preservation: The Past in a Volatile World, was recently published by The MIT Press.

When Nintendo introduced the Wii home video game console in 2006, the company needed to show the general public how the Wii was unlike other game consoles currently on the market. To do so, Nintendo created an experience trailer to help potential users understand how it would feel to use the Wii. Professor and MS/IM Program Director Michael Twidale and Stefan Rennick-Egglestone, a senior research fellow in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham, discuss this area of research in their article, "Experience Trailers."

Professor Emeritus Gerald McWorter (Abdul Alkalimat) and Associate Professor Kate Williams have coauthored a book on New Philadelphia, the first known town planned and legally registered in the U.S. by an African American, Gerald's great-great-grandfather, Free Frank McWorter.

Associate Professor and PhD Program Director Jana Diesner will serve as a keynote speaker for the fifth annual Historical Network Research Conference (HNR 2018), which will be held from September 11-13 in Brno, the Czech Republic. The conference brings together historians, social scientists, and computer scientists to foster awareness of the possibilities of network research and create opportunities for sharing cross- and multidisciplinary approaches to the networked past.

Associate Professor Kate McDowell (MS '99, PhD '07) has been named interim associate dean for academic affairs, effective immediately. In this new role, she provides leadership and oversight for academic programs, including program development, curriculum coordination, and continuous improvement of educational experiences. 

Nineteen iSchool instructors were named in the University's List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for Spring 2018. 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.

Judith Pintar joined the iSchool in August 2018 as a senior lecturer. She previously served as a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and as a visiting assistant professor in Sociology, where she earned her PhD.