The iSchool Alumni Association (ISAA) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2021 Alumni Awards.

Thanks to the generosity of Lionelle (BA, LAS '66, MS/LIS '67) and James (BS, Business '66; MS, Business '67) Elsesser, four MS/LIS students received Katharine L. Sharp Scholarships for the 2021-2022 academic year. These scholarships are awarded to applicants and/or current students who show extraordinary potential for leadership in the profession and society.

Associate Professor Kate McDowell is the 2022 recipient of the Outstanding Information Science Teacher Award from the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T). The award recognizes her unique contributions to information science education that reside at the intersection of storytelling and data science.

Olivia Warren (MS/LIS '21) serves as the program coordinator for Allerton Park and Retreat Center, which is owned by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and located in Monticello, Illinois. She loves serving her community and providing quality programs and other learning opportunities.

Research on Diversity in Youth Literature (RDYL), a peer-reviewed, online, and open-access journal focused on issues of diversity, equity, social justice, inclusion, and intersectionality in youth literature, culture, and media, has moved from St. Catherine University to the iSchool's Center for Children's Books. The journal is co-edited by iSchool Associate Professor Sarah Park Dahlen and Sonia Alejandra Rodríguez, associate professor of English at LaGuardia Community College, City University of New York.

The iSchool is pleased to announce that Haohan Wang will join the faculty as an assistant professor in August 2022, pending approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. He recently completed his PhD in computer science through the Language Technologies Institute of Carnegie Mellon University.

PhD student Julia Burns Petrella has been selected as the 2022 recipient of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE)/University of Washington Information School Youth Services Graduate Student Travel Award, which will support her participation in the ALISE Annual Conference.

Two projects led by iSchool faculty members have been selected as Humanities Research Institute (HRI) Research Clusters for 2022-2023. Formerly known as the Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities, HRI fosters interdisciplinary study in the humanities, arts, and social sciences at the University of Illinois. HRI Research Clusters enable faculty and graduate students to "develop questions or subjects of inquiry that require or would be enhanced by collaborative work." Projects selected as clusters receive grants of $2,500 to support their activities.

Doctoral candidate Jessica Cheng successfully defended her dissertation, "Agreeing to Disagree: Applying a Logic-based Approach to Reconciling and Merging Multiple Taxonomies," on May 25. 

Each year, the School of Information Sciences recognizes a group of outstanding students for their achievement in academics as well as a number of attributes that contribute to professional success. Congratulations to this year's honorees!