Category Archives: Announcements

November 20, 2020 By Hillary Tune

Associate Professor Rachel Fleming-May Receives ALISE Teacher of the Year Award

Associate Professor Rachel Fleming-May was a public and academic librarian before she earned her doctorate degree and began teaching, and one of her very first teaching experiences was creating a user instruction class.

“How I designed that class was by using all the things I wish I had known as an academic librarian who was thrust into teaching with no real preparation,” she said.

This practical approach to teaching, combined with a conscious effort to be responsive to student needs and to highlight diverse perspectives, has molded Fleming-May’s teaching style for the 11 years she’s been at the School of … Read more “Associate Professor Rachel Fleming-May Receives ALISE Teacher of the Year Award”

November 13, 2020 By Hillary Tune

SIS, CICS Team Awarded $399K Sloan Grant to Study Early Career Researchers

As COVID-19 continues to affect the way people live, work, and learn around the world, researchers are beginning to gather data on how the pandemic is affecting society, and one such research team is from the College of Communication and Information’s Center for Information and Communication Studies (CICS) and the School of Information Sciences in collaboration with CIBER Research Ltd. in the United Kingdom.

“Early Career Researchers and the Pandemic”

SIS Interim Director and Chancellor’s Professor Carol Tenopir is the principal investigator for this project, with CCI Associate Dean for Research and Chancellor’s Professor Suzie Allard and David Nicholas, head … Read more “SIS, CICS Team Awarded $399K Sloan Grant to Study Early Career Researchers”

November 5, 2020 By Hillary Tune

SIS D&I Badge Encourages Students to Incorporate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Into Their Work

From left: SIS Assistant Professor Carolyn Hank with the 2019 Diversity & Inclusion Badge recipients, Kelsey Collins, Elaine Posanka and Joseph Winberry.

The School of Information Sciences faculty weaves diversity, equity, and inclusion into its curriculum and scholarship, and the SIS community as a whole strives to incorporate it in all other aspects of its operation, such as scholarships, research initiatives, hiring, and training.

“Society continues to confront prejudice, bias, inequities and lack of respect and appreciation. As information professionals committed to integrity, inclusion, accuracy and authenticity, it is imperative we continue to evolve and adopt a critical role at … Read more “SIS D&I Badge Encourages Students to Incorporate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Into Their Work”

October 30, 2020 By Hillary Tune

Undergrad Holland Parkins First Ever SIS Student to be a CCI Land Ambassador

Junior Holland Parkins recently became the first ever College of Communications and Information Land Ambassador for the School of Information Sciences (SIS), a position in which she will represent the college and assist CCI with student recruitment, student retention, alumni relations, community outreach, and college events.

What is a CCI Land Ambassador?

The CCI Land Ambassador program was established in 2012 through funding from Stephen Land, a 1978 graduate of the School of Journalism and Electronic Media. Land has served on the CCI Board of Visitors, and is CEO of Jupiter Entertainment, a television production company based out of … Read more “Undergrad Holland Parkins First Ever SIS Student to be a CCI Land Ambassador”

October 29, 2020 By Hillary Tune

Learn About a Lecturer: Chris Cunningham Uses Business Analytics Background in Classroom

Lecturer: Chris Cunningham

Location: Hattiesburg, Mississippi

Education: Undergraduate degree in history with a social studies concentration, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; MLIS, UNC Greensboro; PhD, University of South Carolina; currently working on an MBA from Kent State University.

What classes do you teach at SIS?

I am currently teaching INSC 514, technology foundations. I’ve also taught the business intelligence course, and I’ve also taught an information use course that has now been deprecated.

What has your experience been like as an SIS lecturer?

I was a little intimidated because this is the first true iSchool I’ve taught at. When I was … Read more “Learn About a Lecturer: Chris Cunningham Uses Business Analytics Background in Classroom”

October 22, 2020 By Hillary Tune

MSIS Student Spotlight: Adam Hembree Pursues Interest in Public Librarianship and Archives Pathways

Featured student: Adam Hembree

Location: Knoxville, TN

Education: Bachelor’s in Spanish and interdisciplinary studies, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, Virginia; Master’s degree in applied linguistics from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia.

Career/Background: After I did my undergrad, I worked my way up at Rosetta Stone to being an area manager in Hampton Roads, Virginia,where I’m from, and it got me really interested in linguistics and language learning – I was already interested in that, but that solidified it. I went back to school for linguistics and I ended up doing a concentration in TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other … Read more “MSIS Student Spotlight: Adam Hembree Pursues Interest in Public Librarianship and Archives Pathways”

October 7, 2020 By Hillary Tune

Alum Laura Creekmore Puts the Data Behind E-commerce

For every single product you search for while shopping online, there are layers of data that led you to it. Granular data that has been dug up, categorized, standardized, and recorded by teams of people – people like Laura Creekmore (’17).

Creekmore is vice president of content operations at Chicago-based Syndigo, and leads a team that takes any product a client wants to sell and captures all of the information about that product, including taxonomy and category attributes. The sudden bump in online shopping caused by COVID-19 has only increased her team’s workload, and revealed the relevance and impact of … Read more “Alum Laura Creekmore Puts the Data Behind E-commerce”

October 1, 2020 By Hillary Tune

CCI Scripps Convergence Lab Provides a Safe, Quiet Space for Students

So much has changed for students at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in the past few months – just as it has around the world, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But some things have stayed relatively the same, just with a few tweaks, and the decade-old Scripps Convergence Lab in room 402 of the Communication Building is one of those things.

“I think it is really important to maintain a sense of normalcy and order during this time,” John McNair, the IT director for the college, said as to why he has kept the lab open despite usage of it … Read more “CCI Scripps Convergence Lab Provides a Safe, Quiet Space for Students”

Announcements

September 10, 2020 By Hillary Tune

Faculty Spotlight: Clinical Assistant Professor Ericka Patillo Will Lead Graduate Studies

Clinical Assistant Professor Ericka Patillo has been both an administrator and teacher of information sciences, and will be serving in both capacities at SIS as she takes on the role of Director of Graduate Studies.

“I think my combined experiences have equipped me for moving out of the practice and into an arena where I can make contributions to the information professions broadly writ,” she said.

Patillo earned both her doctorate and her master’s degrees in library science from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a bachelor’s degree in music history from Old Dominion University. She comes to SIS … Read more “Faculty Spotlight: Clinical Assistant Professor Ericka Patillo Will Lead Graduate Studies”

By Hillary Tune

Faculty Spotlight: Assistant Professor Ben Horne Joins the SIS Team

Ben Horne joined SIS in August 2020, and combines his background in computer sciences and information sciences to focus his research on safety in online spaces – particularly as it pertains to news and information consumption.

He hopes to help students at SIS learn computational skills they can apply to information jobs without having to have an extensive background in computation.

“This includes not only extracting rich information from data, but also interpreting that extracted information in light of both the computational method used and the applicable concepts in information science,” he said. “I am also excited to loop many … Read more “Faculty Spotlight: Assistant Professor Ben Horne Joins the SIS Team”

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

School of Information Sciences
College of Communication and Information