There’s always a lot happening at our school. Stay in the know
about award wins, scholarship announcements, curriculum updates,
research grants, books published, career promotions, and more
good news!
Dr. Lettie Conrad has completed the Gateway PhD program with her
doctorate conferred by Queensland University of Technology, the
former partner university of the San José State University School
of Information.
Graduation festivities are in full
swing, and six students from the San José State University School
of Information will be graduating with one more award to put on
their resumes. Stephanie Duran, Natasha Finnegan, Ayana
Sarrieddine, Ariell Lomax, Jaime D. Zullo, and Kristin Peace were
selected by the faculty to receive one of the Director’s Awards for
Excellence.
Every spring, Library Journal names its “Movers and
Shakers” for the year. Forty-one individuals make up the Class of
2022, with two having graduated from the San José State
University School of Information.
Dr. Walter Butler is one of the few
remaining individuals to have his doctorate conferred by
Queensland University of Technology, the founding partner
university of the Gateway PhD program. The partnership between
the San José State University School of Information and the
Queensland University of Technology lasted from 2008 to 2021. In
March 2022, he became the 20th individual to graduate from the
Gateway PhD program.
The American Library Association Student Chapter at the San José
State University School of Information has been awarded Chapter
of the Year. This is the fifth time the ALA Student Chapter has
won this prestigious award. One of the main reasons ALASC was
chosen was due to their member engagement, as well as the
chapter’s ability to create opportunities for leadership,
especially during the pandemic.
The San José State University School
of Information will be celebrating its graduating students at two
ceremonies in May. One will be virtual while the other will be
held in person. Dr. Anthony Chow, director of the School on
Information, commented on the ceremonies as a “wonderful time to
celebrate the accomplishments of our graduates and we are
extremely proud of all of them.”
New faces will be on the San José State University School of
Information’s full-time faculty
roster in fall 2022 with the hiring of five assistant
professors. Dr. José Aguiñaga, Dr. Jessica Bushey, Dr. Ulia
Gosart, Dr. James Hodges and Dr. Norman Mooradian have all
demonstrated “evidence of a commitment to equity and inclusion
through their research, teaching, and/or service,” a requirement
listed in the job posting. Their official start date is July 20.
Dr. Timothy Dickey was awarded the 2022 RUSA Margaret E. Monroe
Award for Library Adult Services. On winning the award, Dickey
stated, “I am deeply humbled and tremendously honored by the
award, which recognizes so many aspects of my professional life
as a librarian, a faculty member, an author, and as someone
dedicated to professional service.”
Last fall, Dr. Richard Okumoto’s dissertation was conferred by
Queensland University of Technology, the former partner of the
San José State University School of Information’s Gateway PhD
program. Okumoto is the
19th doctoral student to complete the program through the QUT
partnership, which spanned 2008 through 2021.
Dr. Anthony Chow has been elected to serve on the national board
of the Little Free Library. His appointment began February 2,
2022.
Chow, who is the director of the San José State University School
of Information, has helped the LFL in securing a 1.4 million
dollar grant that he hopes will “address barriers to literacy and
libraries for Native American children and families in five
tribal communities nationally.”
Graduate student Sabrina Gunn has been selected as the first
Building Strong Library and Information Science Education
International Scholar, a newly created position through a
partnership with the San José State University School of
Information.
This spring, the School of Information at San José State
University awarded a total of 44 scholarships valued at $124,000
to new and continuing students enrolled in its master’s degree
programs.