The fall 2023 semester at the San José State University School of Information officially starts August 17, and students will be greeted by a few new faces. Rae Lynn Haliday and Dr. Junia Papas are joining the faculty and bringing brand-new courses to the Master of Archives and Records Administration degree program.

Teaching at the iSchool “is a dream come true for me as a records professional heavily involved in the Records and Information Management (RIM) profession,” says Haliday. The new MARA instructor originally planned to be a manager of a zoo’s animal collection, but through an “amazing career in zoological records management” was drawn to the RIM profession. Haliday has 38 years as a RIM practitioner and brings her work experience to the new course, MARA 284: Seminar in Archives and Records Management – Leadership and Advocacy.

The course will be “a study of leadership and advocacy issues, models, competencies, and approaches related to records and information management.” Haliday states that the RIM field “requires hard work and dedication, commitment and passion and the ability to partner and collaborate.” Haliday also highlights the importance of being a “lifelong learner.”

Although new to the faculty, Papas is very familiar with the MARA program. “I graduated from the SJSU MARA program before getting my PhD, so I am pleased to be able to give back to a school that has propelled my career in such constructive ways,” she states. Papas earned her Doctorate of Philosophy from Selinus University in 2023. She is currently the owner of Junia Papas Archival Consulting LLC, which is “dedicated to helping institutions preserve their legacy in a professional manner.”

Papas got the idea to open her own consulting firm after doing presentations on archival vault construction during her time as an archive director. “The whole process was something that I had not seen in the archival industry in such precise detail,” she states.

Papas will be teaching MARA 284: Seminar in Archives and Records Management - Construction of an Archival Vault, a new course offering in the MARA program. Papas highlights that students can learn about “the physical space legacy materials are stored in,” as well as the “needs to be kept within specific environmental parameters to preserve the physical items for future generations.”

The MARA curriculum is continually updated to align with industry advances. The new courses add to the already robust elective course offerings students can choose from when completing their master’s degree program requirements.