![\"LaVerne](\"https:\/\/cci.utk.edu\/sis\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/01\/LaverneGray.jpg\" "\\"LaVerne")
Strong African-American women have been present for almost all of the pivotal moments in LaVerne Gray\u2019s career\u2013both professionally and academically.<\/p>\nStrong African-American women have been present for almost all of the pivotal moments in LaVerne Gray\u2019s career\u2013both professionally and academically.<\/p>\n
These were the women she wrote about in her doctoral classes at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and for her dissertation, \u201cIn a Collective Voice:\u202f Uncovering the Black Feminist Information Community of Activist Mothers in Chicago Public Housing, 1955-1970.\u201d But apart from the historical figures who inspired her research, Gray can also point to specific women who were integral in getting her to push past her own limits, and expand her knowledge and education.<\/p>\n
It would be fair to say that Gray has pushed far enough that it is now she who students will look up to for advice and inspiration. After successfully defending her dissertation at the end of 2018, Gray will be a lecturer for the School of Information Sciences, teaching Information Access and Retrieval, and Development and Management of Collections for this spring 2018 semester.<\/p>\n
But let\u2019s rewind a little bit, to that first African-American woman who inspired Gray to pursue a career as a librarian. It was when she served with the Peace Corps in West Africa. At Thanksgiving, she and other Peace Corps members went to a host family to celebrate, and her host was a woman who worked for the U.S. Foreign Service as an information resource officer, but the host\u2019s background was in academic libraries.<\/p>\n
\u201cI talked to her about it then, and it really interested me. Also, libraries were a need that I saw in both of the villages I served in, which was in two countries, Ivory Coast and Togo,\u201d Gray said. \u201cI made up my mind, and when I came back in November 2003, I started library school that next summer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Once she graduated from Dominican University in Chicago with her master\u2019s in library and information sciences, Gray\u2019s first library job was also her initial introduction to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville \u2013 she was a diversity resident librarian at Hodges Library for two years. After that, she continued to grow her career over the next six years as a librarian at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and then at Texas A&M University.<\/p>\n
Gray said there was something within her that drove her to keep challenging herself, and to expand her education. But it was her community of fellow librarians who gave her that extra push into attaining her doctorate.<\/p>\n
She participated in the Leadership Career and Development Program through the Association of Research Libraries \u2013 an intensive 18-month program for mid-career professionals of diverse backgrounds \u2013 and as part of the program was mentored by Lorraine Haricombe, vice provost and director of the University of Texas libraries. Haricombe \u2013 another African-American woman who had climbed high in her field \u2013 encouraged Gray to take the next step in academia.<\/p>\n
Gray gave up her tenure-track position at the Texas A&M University, and dove headfirst into her doctoral journey. She was awarded the American Library Association Spectrum Doctoral Fellowship, which is an Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)-funded project, \u201cdesigned to increase racial and ethnic diversity among our profession\u2019s next generation of LIS leaders,\u201d according to ALA\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
Gray chose the University of Tennessee\u2019s program for her doctorate because she already knew some of the faculty, as well as the school itself, after working at Hodges earlier in her library career.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, I remember from my time here that there was something here that embraced diversity,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd when I first came here, I wanted to study academic librarians of color, or academic library organizational culture.\u201d<\/p>\n
After her first semester, Gray\u2019s course load was heavy on cultural studies and sociology. A major turning point was during her second semester, when she took a historical methods class.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that my grandmother was part of a group of women that tried to get a library in their community, and I wanted to use that as part of my historical methods class, so I wrote my paper on that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
That began a deeper dive into the work of her grandmother, Frances Cummings, and the group of women who campaigned for a library in their Chicago-area public housing community in the 1950s and 60s. As Gray kept up her research and using it in other classes, and applying the theory she was learning, it became apparent that these women would be the topic of her dissertation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has become something different now, to where I\u2019m looking at the whole community in a way, and I\u2019m also exploring the methodology on how to exam archival evidence. It\u2019s this way of uncovering \u2013 who knows about these people? This is from the bottom up, looking at regular working-class poor people, and their lives, so it\u2019s different. I can\u2019t pick up a textbook and read about them,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n
Throughout it all, Gray said she came to appreciate the people around her who lifted her up and supported her academic pursuits. The cohort model at the College of Communications & Information helped her through initial challenges, and she also had another outside cohort through her fellowship. Both of these helped provide support and commiseration as she worked towards completing her doctorate.<\/p>\n
Gray also credits the professors on her dissertation committee with providing the information and guidance she needed to successfully defend her dissertation and find a balance of coursework that made sense for her cognate area.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t take your journey alone,\u201d she said. \u201cI could really see it at my dissertation defense, that these people have been on the journey with me. That was a culminating great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those faculty include: Journalism & Electronic Media Associate Professor Amber Roesner, who taught the historical methods class that initiated Gray\u2019s research; Kimberly Douglass, who taught iGovernance and social justice; College of Education, Health and Human Services Professor Barbara Thayer-Bacon, who teaches cultural studies.<\/p>\n
Last but not least, Gray said that former SIS Professor Bharat Mehra was right by her every step of the way as her advisor.<\/p>\n
Now that her work is complete, Gray is looking forward to what is next. She loves both teaching and research, and said she hopes to eventually attain a position at a research university, teaching students about information and library sciences. She definitely wants to continue developing the black feminist information community model that was started in her dissertation work. And she\u2019ll always be a librarian at heart.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have an affinity for one another, most librarians, it\u2019s a great profession,\u201d she said. If there\u2019s anything she could tell others who are considering getting a doctorate degree in information sciences \u2013 or really in any field \u2013 it\u2019s to not give up, and to never stop learning.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not easy, but I\u2019m extremely happy. I learned so much about myself, about doing this, about my persistence, about my willingness to continue to be a learner,\u201d she said. \u201cTo pursue it for oneself, to recognize that there are gaps in your knowledge, and things you need to continue to learn. It\u2019s not just a checklist \u2013 it is more about milestones for self-development. You have to have growth and development in this to make it work for you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
![\"LaVerne](\"https:\/\/sis.utk.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/01\/LaverneGray.jpg\" "\\"LaVerne")
Strong African-American women have been present for almost all of the pivotal moments in LaVerne Gray\u2019s career\u2013both professionally and academically.<\/p>\n
These were the women she wrote about in her doctoral classes at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and for her dissertation, \u201cIn a Collective Voice:\u202f Uncovering the Black Feminist Information Community of Activist Mothers in Chicago Public Housing, 1955-1970.\u201d But apart from the historical figures who inspired her research, Gray can also point to specific women who were integral in getting her to push past her own limits, and expand her knowledge and education.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,61],"tags":[11,86,95,96,97],"class_list":["post-472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-announcements","category-lecturer-spotlight","tag-diversity-inclusion","tag-lecturer","tag-phd","tag-sis","tag-student-article"],"yoast_head":"\n