The recruitment and admissions team at the iSchool has been awarded the Promotion of Excellence Award from the Association for Graduate Enrollment Management (NAGAP). The award is presented to an individual or team that has "developed or implemented methodology demonstrating best practices, creativity, and/or innovation in graduate enrollment management that could serve as a model across the GEM [graduate enrollment management] profession." The iSchool team received this recognition for the Information Schools and Colleagues Collaborative (ISCC) Network, which was created during the pandemic when travel was restricted, limiting traditional recruitment efforts.

Brigitte Fielder, associate professor in the College of Letters and Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, will deliver the 2022 Gryphon Lecture on April 8. Sponsored annually by the Center for Children’s Books (CCB), the lecture features a leading scholar in the field of youth and literature, media, and culture.

Forty-one iSchool instructors were named in the University's List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for Fall 2021. 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. Only those instructors who gave out ICES forms during the semester and who released their data for publication are included in the list.

Bea Verin, a junior from the Philippines, is an iSchool ambassador who is passionate about the intersection of technology and business. Now pursuing a degree in information sciences, Verin appreciates that the iSchool has allowed her to tailor her education to her interests.

As the tragic scenes of war in the Ukraine unfold on TV, computer, and cellphone screens across the world, people wonder what they can do to help the besieged country. iSchool alumni are among those working to make a difference by capturing Ukrainian museum and library websites, digital exhibits, text corpora, and open access publications in order to preserve Ukraine's cultural heritage. Quinn Dombrowski (MSLIS '09), academic technology specialist in the Library and the Division of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages at Stanford University, is co-organizing the initiative Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online (SUCHO) with Anna Kijas of Tufts University and Sebastian Majstorovic of the Austrian Center for Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage.

Adjunct Lecturer Melissa A. Wong (MS/LIS '94) has been selected as the 2022 winner of the Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award, the Reference and User Services Association's highest honor.

iSchool faculty will present their research at the AMIA (American Medical Informatics Association) Informatics Summit, which will be held from March 21-24 in Chicago. The symposium showcases the latest innovations from the community of biomedical informatics researchers and practitioners.

The Community Data Clinic has announced its first cohort of Community Media, Data, and Technology (CMDT) Fellows. The new program is part of the "Reparative Data and Media Initiative: Extending Racial and Research Justice in Champaign County" project, which is funded through the University's Call to Action initiative and led by Anita Say Chan, associate professor and director of the Community Data Clinic, and Katie Shumway, director of the Community Learning Lab in the School of Social Work. The fellowships provide annual funding and technical support to community organizations in Champaign County "looking to advance promising ideas to change local communities and systems."

BS/IS student Sam Hwang is grateful to be the recipient of an iSchool scholarship. Hwang, a junior from Glenview, Illinois, decided to major in information sciences because of his interest in data science and data analytics. He is happy with his decision.

Mandi Goodsett's interest in professional development was sparked when she was an iSchool student volunteering with the Special Libraries Association (SLA). She has since become an active member of the American Library Association, serving as president of the ALA New Members Round Table and as a member of the ALA Steering Committee on Organizational Effectiveness. Goodsett was recently selected by the ALA as the 2022 Lois Ann Gregory-Wood Fellow. She will receive a stipend of $2,500 to offset the cost of attending the ALA 2022 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. and the 2023 LibLearnX experience in New Orleans.