Kelly Passek loads books into packages to be delivered to students via Wing drone delivery. Photo courtesy of Wing.

Imagine a middle school student looking out their front door to see a drone hovering above them, a long tether attached to a box extending from the small flying machine – when the box is released, the child opens it and inside is a library book from their middle school librarian. This small sci-fi adventure is playing out right now in the Christiansburg, Virginia area, after middle school librarian and SIS alum Kelly Passek (’11) brought the idea to fruition.

It was his longtime love of hiking that pushed Ken Wise from being an accountant to becoming director of the UT Libraries’ Great Smoky Mountains Regional Project in 1998. So it was a little bit of being in the right place at the right time, and a lot of passion.

When one takes a step back and looks at the varied career of alum Kendra Albright, it’s not difficult to see why she was awarded the SIS Distinguished Alumni Award in 2017. While Albright is humble about work she put in to get to where she is now, there’s no doubt that she built on her experience in both the corporate and academic sectors to arrive at her current position as director of Kent State University’s School of Library and Information Sciences.

Brooke Olson (’19) was a project manager for almost a decade when she decided it was time for a career overhaul. The Nashville resident began taking distance education classes through SIS in 2017, but she knew she wanted a look at what happens behind the scenes in a library before deciding that was her endgame.

“I have no library experience at all and I knew if I wanted to find a job in the library system I needed some hands-on experience,” she said.

Recent graduate Amanda Liford (’19) transitioned from a student practicum into an assistantship at the US Geological Survey this past year, and now she’s hoping it could turn into a full-time career as a data manager at the organization.

Rick Wallace takes the traditional tenets of being an academic librarian seriously – he ensures students have the skills and access to information they need, and maintains a space for them to study and explore that information. But he also takes it a step farther by making the library a place they can go for help beyond academics. He’s affable, kind, energetic and intelligent.

Lecturer: Janine Pino

Location: Knoxville, Tennessee

Academic Background: MSIS, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Helping students find science resources comes naturally to Alexa Carter (’18). When she was an undergrad at the University of Tennessee, earning her degree in chemistry, she often found herself helping other students find information for lab classes. Her interest in chemistry merged with a love of the information sciences when she began looking for an elective to take.

“I had a friend who was doing information science, and she thought, with my curious nature, I might like it. So I took a class as an undergrad and kind of fell in love with it,” Carter said.

Featured Alum: Jenny Moore

Location: Maryville, Tennessee

What is your education background and how did you end up in East Tennessee?