The iSchool is pleased to announce that Dong Wang will join the faculty as an associate professor in August 2021. He is currently an associate professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at the University of Notre Dame.

Doctoral candidate Yun Hao successfully defended her dissertation, "Towards a Better Understanding of Music Playlist Titles and Descriptions," on April 6. Her committee included Professor J. Stephen Downie (chair); Associate Professor Vetle Torvik; Assistant Professor Nigel Bosch; Xiao Hu, associate professor at The University of Hong Kong; and Andreas Ehmann, manager of research/data science at Pandora Inc.

Ever since she was a little girl, Hanna Dahlstrom has loved to play video games. Now she is learning how to preserve video games as a student in the MS in library and information sciences program.

Forty-nine iSchool instructors were named in the University's List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for Fall 2020. 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.

U.S. News & World Report has once again named the iSchool at Illinois the top graduate school for library and information studies, based on national rankings of accredited master's degree programs. The iSchool has held the top spot among its peer institutions since 1996. On the Urbana-Champaign campus, it was the only college with a degree program to be placed number one in the current rankings.

Our School is grateful for talented and dedicated staff, who contribute greatly to our teaching and research excellence. This “Get to Know” series highlights our staff, sharing their friendly faces and stories of professional success.

MS student Jeremy Kearse is a future educator and data manager. His career goals are to work both in the corporate world, "helping a business make smarter and more efficient decisions," and as an adjunct professor in an MSI (minority serving institution), working with students in STEM and LIS. Kearse, who earned his BS in computer science from Morehouse College, became interested in the field of LIS after serving as a paraprofessional for a fourth-grade class through the UPS Community Scholars Program.

A project to preserve the history of live musical performances and the relationship between live music and communities will use material from Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. The project, involving researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, will develop an online archive of musical events.

Assistant Professor Madelyn Rose Sanfilippo has co-edited a new book, Governing Privacy in Knowledge Commons, with Brett M. Frischmann (Villanova University School of Law) and Katherine J. Strandburg (New York University School of Law). The book, which was recently published by Cambridge University Press, explores the complex and dynamic relationships between privacy, governance, and the production, cultivation, and sharing of knowledge.

Teaching Assistant Professor David Hopping has been named director of the iSchool's Workforce Development/Continuing Education Program. Hopping's primary responsibility in this new role will be to develop a strategic vision and framework, which includes defining the curriculum, audience, and modes of delivery. He will also support the recruitment of industry and agency partners and supervise the management of continuing education/nondegree student enrollment.