This week during spring break, more than 90 students in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) will be spending time away from the beach, completing special projects in libraries and information centers around the country. Through GSLIS’s Alternative Spring Break (ASB) program, graduate students have the opportunity to experience professional life in public,…

Professor Allen Renear has assumed the interim deanship of GSLIS, effective immediately. He brings to the position extensive administrative experience in higher education as well as more than 20 years of experience as an information professional. GSLIS is in good hands with Renear, whose depth and breadth of experience make him well suited for the position. He has served as a member of the GSLIS…

Library Journal has released their annual list of Movers and Shakers for 2012 and included among those honored are two GSLIS alumni, Michelle Chronister (MS ’09) and Joshua Finnell (MS ’07). Chronister is a program analyst with the U.S. General Services Administration responsible for the social media program on USA.gov. She is being recognized for her work to increase the interaction…

GSLIS is hosting nine prospective students as part of the campus-wide Community of Scholars Campus Visit Program (COS). The program brings admitted graduate students from underrepresented backgrounds to campus to meet with their academic department and give them the opportunity to network with current and prospective students. Students will visit campus from March 11-March 13, 2012. Amani…

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) announces the appointment of Scott Walter, a GSLIS affiliated faculty member, to the post of editor for College & Research Libraries (C&RL). Walter will serve a three-year term beginning July 1, 2013. “Scott brings excellent credentials to the position of editing College & Research Libraries,” said 2011-12 ACRL President…

GSLIS eUpdate
Volume 11, Number 5: March 2012

_____________________________________________________
IN THIS ISSUE

1. GSLIS Spotlight – Renear Assumes Interim Deanship
2. News Summary
3. Continuing Professional Development
4. Alumni Highlights
5. Calendar of Events
6. Unsubscribe and/or contact us

Note: We enjoy receiving and sharing news about your career and life accomplishments. Please take the time to update your contact information and/or share a Class Note about your recent activities using our Alumni Update Form.

_____________________________________________________
1. GSLIS SPOTLIGHT

Where did you grow up?  Chicago—my dad used to push my stroller around Wrigley Field, so I had an early indoctrination into being a Cubs fan! What year did you begin working for GSLIS? In the fall of 2005. Where did you work prior to GSLIS? Westview Elementary School in Champaign as a school library media specialist; before that I worked at an instructional television…

On the south side of Chicago, Sandra Aya Enimil was arguing with one her seatmates on the bus when someone told her she’d make a good lawyer. She was seven years old at the time. “I didn’t know exactly what the word meant, so I asked my mother what a lawyer was, and she told me it is somebody who helps other people,” Enimil, a current GSLIS student and LAMP scholar, recalls. “I became…

GSLIS faculty and doctoral students were honored at the 2012 iConference that was held from February 7-10, 2012, and was hosted by the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto. A Best Paper Award was given to doctoral student Noah Lenstra and Professor Abdul Alkalimat for their paper, “Networked Cultural Heritage and Socio-Digital Inequalities: A Case Study in an African-American…

Beth Kumar (MS '06, CAS '07), e-resources and serials librarian at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, is the recipient of the 2012 First Step Award-A Wiley Professional Development Grant presented by the ALCTS Continuing Resources Section. The award will be presented on Sunday, June 24, at the ALCTS Awards Ceremony during the 2012 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference…