Six outstanding students graduating from the San José State University (SJSU) School of Library and Information Science with a Master of Library and Information Science degree, have been chosen as winners of awards for academic excellence and professional promise.

The prestigious Ken Haycock Award for Exceptional Professional Promise has been awarded to Valarie Kingsland for her impressive academic achievements, her record of service, and her contributions to professional associations. Kingsland will be recognized at the convocation ceremony on May 17, 2014, where she will serve as the outstanding student speaker.

Susan Gehr is the recipient of the Outstanding Thesis Award for her thesis, “Breath of Life: Revitalizing California’s Native Languages Through Archives.” Gehr ‘s thesis, presented in fall 2013, studies efforts being made to revitalize some of California’s indigenous languages through workshops, archives, and other collection and preservation work.

The Jean Wichers Award for Professional Practice has been bestowed upon Susan Edwards for outstanding knowledge and ability in professional practice. While earning her MLIS degree, Edwards has also been working at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles in the areas of digital humanities, online collaboration, and social media.

Marc Crompton is receiving this year’s Leslie Janke Award in Teacher-Librarianship. Crompton is currently head of library services at St. George’s School in Vancouver, B.C. 

The Shirley Hopkinson Award in the Organization of Information has been awarded to Tony Brooke. During his time as a graduate student at the SJSU information school, Brooke has researched media asset management and audiovisual metadata. His work has been published in the Student Research Journal, San José State University’s first student-governed research journal.

Lorianna Giarrizzo has been awarded the Stella Bunch Hillis Award in Youth Services. Giarrizzo is currently a clerk at the Palo Alto Children’s Library and hopes to become a children’s librarian.

In addition to citations, award winners receive prizes and gift certificates of various amounts totaling $2,250. Students graduating during the 2013-2014 academic year are eligible to be nominated for graduating student awards. The award winners are selected by the SJSU information school’s Student Scholarships and Awards and Alumni Networking Committee.

Congratulations to this year’s winners!

Related Content:

• Read more about the 2014 Ken Haycock Award winner Valarie Kingsland
• View a list of all the award recipients from past years