College of Communication and Information

School of Information Sciences

Featured Story

  • SIS Alum, Children’s Author & School Librarian Alice Faye Duncan to Publish Two New Books

    Children’s picture book author and school librarian Alice Faye Duncan (’91) looks for those moments in history that define generations yet are not often discussed—and especially aren’t stories typically told via picture book. She was the first-ever picture book author to delve into the Memphis Sanitation Strike and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.…

  • Alumna Stacey Smith on Being Library Director at LeMoyne-Owen College, Her Alma Mater

    Like any good story, Stacey Smith’s (’14) has a thread of repeated themes; throughout her adult life she would be pulled back to her hometown of Memphis and she would consistently gravitate to libraries. The satisfying ending is that she went full circle and became the director of the library at her undergraduate alma mater,…

  • Recent Alum Gillian Kelly Talks about Her New North Carolina Biotechnology Dream Job

    In less than two years, recent MSIS graduate Gillian Kelly (’21) went from being unfulfilled at her job to grinning ear-to-ear whenever she talks about her new chosen profession in the field of information sciences. “I couldn’t really imagine a world in which I would be so happy in my work life. Work was always…

  • Student Spotlight: H.B. Fach Discusses Neurodiversity and Information Sciences

    Featured student: H.B. Fach Location: Lavergne, Tennessee Career Background: I’ve been in libraries in one form or another since 2008, ever since I started part-time at Lavergne Public Library. I went to Nashville Public Library after that, and then the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Currently I’m with HCA Healthcare in their Knowledge Management division.…

  • Associate Professor Awa Zhu Elected ASIS&T Deputy SIG Cabinet Director

    After serving in different positions over several years in two Association of Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) Special Interest Groups (SIGs), Associate Professor Awa Zhu was recently elected to serve as the Deputy SIG Cabinet Director for ASIS&T. She will transition into the role at the end of the upcoming ASIS&T Annual Meeting, which is…

  • SIS Faculty, Students to Participate in ASIS&T 2021 Annual Meeting

    At the end of this month, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will be well-represented at the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) in Salt Lake City. It is at this conference that SIS Professor and Director Abebe Rorissa will move into the position of ASIS&T President-Elect Nov. 2, but many others from the SIS…

  • Alum Ari Baker Steps Into Their New Role as Tenn-Share Director

    After working 13 years at the same place, Ari Baker decided it was time to see where else they could leverage their information sciences skills. Though Baker loved being a librarian at the Blount County Public Library, they realized their entire career had been spent there. That’s when they saw the job opening for the…

  • Student Spotlight: Matthew Cowan Brings Knowledge Management to Cybersecurity

    Featured Student: Matt Cowan Location: Knoxville, Tennessee Education/Career Background: I finished undergraduate in 2014 at the University of Alabama, where I studied geology. Between then and now, I worked largely in real estate and hospitality. Why information sciences? I came to the School of Information Sciences because I realized there’s such a gap in how…

  • PhD Student Jessica Barfield Named ASIS&T Emerging Scholar for AI Voice Research Done with Professor Dania Bilal

    A collaboration between the College of Communication and Information PhD student and  School of Information Sciences professor has resulted in innovative research that reaches into the future of AI-powered voice digital assistants and explores how it can be more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. This research resulted in a co-authored paper and an award for the doctoral…

  • SIS Lecturer and CCI PhD Alum Iman Tahamtan Takes on UX Researcher Role at JP Morgan

    It’s been an exciting and transitional summer for Iman Tahamtan, a recently graduated College of Communication and Information doctoral program alum, and now SIS lecturer. Not only did he successfully defend his dissertation in July, but he also stepped into a new role as a senior user experience researcher for the Machine Learning and Intelligence…