Featured Story

  • PhD Alum and SIS Lecturer Crystal Sherline Explores Usability, Digital Preservation

    Crystal Sherline didn’t think she wanted to get a PhD; she was working as a library director of a small, rural library, and had already been through the rigorous PhD experience with a spouse. “I had a couple of patrons I was very close to, who were older and worldly. They told me, ‘You need…

  • PhD Spotlight: Dick Kawooya Finds Success in the US After Graduating from SIS

    When Dick Kawooya first traveled from Uganda to the United States in 2001 to study library science, he had only expected to stay for one year. Now, Kawooya is an associate professor and just finished a year as interim director of the School of Library and Information Science College of Information and Communications at the University…

  • Associate Professor Devendra Potnis to be Recognized by CCI for International Work

    SIS Associate Professor Devendra Potnis will be receiving the College of Communication and Information Bud Minkel International/Intercultural Award this October. The award recognizes the work and research Potnis has conducted over the past two years in Kenya, Benin and India – many geared towards helping people who are disadvantaged in their communities due to financial,…

  • SIS Director Diane Kelly Completes Term as Chair of Top Information Retrieval Organization

    SIS Director Diane Kelly recently traveled to Paris and wrapped up a fruitful three years as chair of ACM SIGIR (Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval). She ushered in a new chair at the 2019 ACM SIGIR Conference, which Kelly said is the oldest, and most distinguished, information retrieval conference. Kelly…

  • School Librarian, SIS Alum Erika Long on Making the Library a Place for Every Student

    Erika Long (’16) was working with children in an after-school program, and as an academic mentor and tutor, when she realized she could do more for them. She wanted to provide children with lifelong skills that would make them successful academically and professionally, and she settled on the best way to do that: become a…

  • A Long Journey: SIS Assistant Professor Awa Zhu on Earning Tenure, and More

    Assistant Professor Xiaohua (Awa) Zhu recently earned tenure and will be promoted to associate professor Aug. 1. She’s been with the School of Information Sciences since 2012. She will also be awarded the 2019 College of Communications and Information Faculty Teaching award in the fall. We are taking a look back at Zhu’s journey to…

  • ALA 2019 Through the Eyes of Student Lisa Ladd

    Lisa Ladd is a master of information sciences student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who was awarded the Marcellus Turner Student Travel Scholarship this year. She used it to go to the American Library Association 2019 Conference. Here is a recap from her of that experience. I have just returned from ALA in Washington,…

  • Recent Grad Valerie Aucoin on the Advantages of ALA

    Featured alum: Valerie Aucoin (’19) just graduated from SIS and is currently interviewing for youth librarian positions across the country. She will be attending the American Library Association conference this week in Washington, D.C. as a volunteer, after she helped lead the student ALA chapter at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Why UTK? I had…

  • SIS, Director Diane Kelly Partner in PhD Training Grant

    Director Diane Kelly and the School of Information Sciences are participating as a partner organization in a Marie Curie Doctoral Training Network grant. The grant was recently awarded to a team of eight researchers working in institutions located in five different European countries including Austria, Greece, Italy, The Netherlands and United Kingdom. The University of…

  • UT to Launch New Information Sciences Undergraduate Major in the Fall

    The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will launch the state’s first bachelor’s degree program in information sciences in the fall. The program was approved by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission on Friday. Faculty and administrators from the School of Information Sciences (SIS) in the College of Communication and Information (CCI) have worked for more than four…