Sara Benson (MSLIS '17), adjunct associate professor at the iSchool and copyright librarian and associate professor at the University Library, was recently named a senior policy fellow for the American Library Association's Public Policy and Advocacy Office and the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) representative to the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR). 

Samip Mallick (MSLIS '11) is the executive director and co-founder of SAADA, the South Asian American Digital Archive. He is proud of how his organization's work creates a place of belonging for the South Asian American community.

Documenting the Future: Navigating Provenance Metadata Standards, a new book authored by PhD student Michael Gryk and alumni Rhiannon Bettivia (PhD '16) and Jessica Yi-Yun Cheng (PhD '22), explores provenance, which is the study and documentation of how something has come to be. Provenance documentation is critical for authenticity, trustworthiness, and reproducibility in science. 

Diane Foote (MSLIS '06), former executive director of the Illinois Library Association (ILA), has been inducted as an Illinois Library Luminary. The Illinois Library Luminary program, an initiative of the ILA, recognizes those who have made a significant contribution to Illinois libraries.

Ved Upadhyay (MS/IM '19) serves as a senior data scientist for Walmart Global Tech. He enjoys working with different teams at the company and "designing impactful data science solutions" for customers.

When planning their estate, Emily (MS/LIS '77) and David (MS/LIS '83) Batista wanted to give back to the university that prepared them for their successful careers as librarians. For this reason, the Batistas' $1.2 million estate gift to the University of Illinois will be directed to the iSchool and University Library.

As a single parent raising two young children, Stephanie Dietrich (MS/LIS '18) needed a career where she could balance her family life and work life. After working with foster families in Chicago on the Children's Supplement Security Income (SSI) Project, she also knew that she wanted a career where she could serve her community. Dietrich, who holds a bachelor's degree in sociology, decided to make the jump to public education, returning to school for her MS/LIS degree with a K-12 teaching certification.

Not too many medical students would take a year off from their studies to learn more about an area that interests them. Of course, Dipesh Navsaria (MS/LIS '04) was not your average medical student. He entered the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana with three degrees—a BA in biology and English and a master's in public health from Boston University and a master's in physician assistant (PA) studies, from George Washington University.

Zoë Kaler (MS/IM '18) serves as a senior user experience (UX) designer for the national digital services firm West Monroe. She credits the iSchool with preparing her for a rapidly changing technology landscape.

PhD student Jamillah Gabriel and iSchool alumna Katrina Spencer (MS/LIS ’16) gave the keynote address at the Society of American Archives Annual Conference, which was held on August 25-27 virtually and in Boston, Massachusetts.