Alumni Honored at 2024 MSIS Hooding and Awards Ceremony
During the School of Information Sciences 2024 Hooding and Awards Ceremony, two alumni from the SIS master’s program were honored for their work in libraries and information sciences. Alice Faye Duncan (‘91) was awarded the SIS Distinguished Alumni Award and Isaiah West (‘14) was awarded the SIS Innovator’s Alumni Award.
Distinguished Alumni Award Presented to Alice Faye Duncan
The Distinguished Alumni Award honors graduates who have demonstrated professional achievement or leadership attributable to their education at the school and demonstrate a credible career based on service, teaching, and scholarship.
Alice Faye Duncan is a National Board Library Media Specialist who writes for young learners.
Duncan came to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in the fall of 1990 on a Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) fellowship.
“It allowed me to go to school free of charge and gave me a stipend,” she said.
Under the fellowship, Duncan was required to serve as a graduate assistant and served under Professor Glenn Estes, who encouraged her to pursue her dream of writing picture books.
“I remember writing one during that time. It was about a little black girl playing jacks, and I shared it with him. He said, ‘It’s too quiet. It needs more conflict.’ But, I wrote that first story here at UT and then went back home to Memphis, and wrote some more stories,” she said.
Duncan graduated with her master’s degree in the fall of 1991 and earned her first job as a school librarian in Memphis where she served as a librarian for thirty years. She wrote her first picture book in 1992.
By age twenty-four, Duncan had a book contract with the Macmillian publishing company.
Since 1995, Duncan has written fourteen picture books celebrated for their vivid imagery and musical lyricism. Memphis, Martin, and the Mountaintop received a Coretta Scott King Honor Medal for Illustrations in 2019. Yellow Dog Blues was a New York Times and New York Public Library Best Illustrated Picture Book in 2022. Evicted was a Bank Street Best Book Selection in 2022. Coretta’s Journey was a 2023 Horn Book Fanfare Selection. In the fall of 2023, Alice was featured on Good Morning America to speak about children, grief, and the solace found in her recent book, This Train is Bound for Glory.
Duncan continues to write in memory of Professor Glenn Estes and his passion for picture books and music.
While at UT, Duncan was also a member of the Black Student Association, now called the African Student Association (ASA).
During her acceptance of the Distinguished Alumni Award, graduating MSIS students received an autographed copy of Duncan’s book, Traveling Shoes.
Innovator’s Alumni Award Presented to Isaiah West
The SIS Innovator’s Alumni Award honors an alumnus or alumna who graduated at least two years earlier and demonstrates innovation in the field of library and information sciences through cutting-edge activities, forward-thinking, leading trends, or reinventing a traditional service.
Isaiah West is the teen services specialist for the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System in Maryland.
West started his undergraduate at UT in 2008 and finished his degree at Tennessee Tech University. He came back to UT to do his masters in SIS in 2012.
While completing his master’s, West entered a summer internship at Auburn University. He continued to do contract work in its Information Systems Management program where he was a part of organizational change projects.
While at UT, West was an American Library Association (ALA) student member and a part of the Tennessee Library Association.
“I have always advocated for youth to have a seat at the table—specifically teens of all ages, not just older teens,” he said.
After graduating with his MSIS, West became a young adult librarian with the Fulton County Library System in Georgia. He transitioned into a teen services coordinator position at the Alexandria Library in Virginia and then moved into his current role.
Throughout this time, West has been a member of the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). West has been on YALSA’s William C. Morris Award committee, the Best Fiction for Young Adults committee, and the Great Graphic Novels for Teens committee.
He helped reshape the Alex Award, which is an award given to ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults, ages twelve through eighteen. For the second year in a row, West is currently co-chairing the oversight committee, which provides direction to all of the award and selection committees.
Overall, West has been involved with YALSA for ten years and was recently named division councilor.
Along with his work with YALSA, West is involved with the ALA Rainbow Round Table, which is dedicated to supporting the information needs of LGBTQIA+ people, and is involved with the Public Library Association (PLA).
While working with PLA, West explained, “I was a part of the inclusive internship initiative where public librarians, specifically teen-centered librarians worked with high school students and recent high school graduates to create an internship that spotlighted the diversity within the community.”
He was also a part of PLA’s leadership development committee.
It is this work with the community that earned him the SIS Innovator’s Alumni Award.
“I was honored,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of praise and, as someone that works in teen services in a public library, you can probably ask any of them and they’re not used to it. Most of the time we’re just trying to stay afloat with minimum resources. So I felt honored but also felt empowered by the award.”
West will teach an Introduction to Youth Informatics class at UT this summer.
He said he’ll continue to equip teens with the tools to engage in activism and maintain strong community connections. Through strategic community partnerships, West ensures that teens are supported in their endeavors.
Alumni Honored at 2024 MSIS Hooding and Awards Ceremony written by Kristen Gallant and originally published on the College of Communication & Information site.