The San José State University School of Information has rewarded five exceptional students for their outstanding efforts as their time in graduate school draws to a close.

As the recipient of the Director’s Award for Excellence in Intellectual Inquiry, Tanya Yule has demonstrated her curiosity and passion for learning through an extended internship at the Hoover Institution Library and Archives and as the preservation fellow for the American Archive of Public Broadcasting.

In both positions, she’s working with collections that pertain to war and struggle in the twentieth century and require varying levels of preservation assessment and care, including digitizing at-risk magnetic media for The Center for Asian American Media and Bay Area Video Coalition.

“Last year I made the difficult decision to quit my job as a program director after 10 years, but I’ve found great personal joy and value in working with a variety of people, and learning as much as possible about different histories and formats in order to preserve and provide access,” she said.

Yule will be presenting her work from the AAPB fellowship in Washington D.C. and attending the Image Permanence Institute’s photo identification workshop in Chicago where she’ll pick up where she left off with Gawain Weaver’s INFO 284 Photographic Preservation course.

After graduation in May 2018, she’ll continue the internship and remain with AAPB until August. She wants to continue working with visual materials in an archival setting.

“I promised myself when I went back to school that I was going to jump at every opportunity and do the best I can, this recognition goes a long way,” she expressed.

Carina Langstraat is the recipient of the Director’s Award for Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion for her “outstanding leadership through a work or community service innovation, internship or scholarly research effort benefiting an economically, linguistically or otherwise diverse service population,” according to the award description.

She believes the biggest factor in being considered for the award was her fearlessness in asking questions when she didn’t understand or to point out inconsistencies that confused her. She considers diversity and inclusion— as concepts— laudable, but messy and controversial in the practical world.

“Whenever the topic of diversity came up as an option for a project or a paper, I tried to write about it—mostly because the topic as always scared me and I wanted to confront my fear. The reality is that this award has given me pause for thought: I still find myself struggling to understand the challenges of equity, diversity, and inclusion,” she said.

Upon receiving the news that she was selected for the Diversity and Inclusion award, she feels emboldened to “move forward, ask more questions, and keep listening.”

Langstraat works as library assistant for the Kitsap Regional Library in Washington, but wants to pursue a career as an adult services librarian while engaging in various forms of community outreach working with job seekers and local businesses, in particular.

Yule and Langstraat are joined by their peers who also received Director’s Awards for Excellence. The Scholarship and Award Committee selected Mary Beth Romo for the International Contribution award, Kate Spaulding for the Innovation award, and James Tyner for the Building Community award. All of the award winners receive a gift certificate and citation.

For more information regarding the Director’s Awards, visit the Awards for Graduating Students page.