Children’s picture book author and school librarian Alice Faye Duncan (’91) looks for those moments in history that define generations yet are not often discussed—and especially aren’t stories typically told via picture book. She was the first-ever picture book author to delve into the Memphis Sanitation Strike and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. […]
Like any good story, Stacey Smith’s (’14) has a thread of repeated themes; throughout her adult life she would be pulled back to her hometown of Memphis and she would consistently gravitate to libraries. The satisfying ending is that she went full circle and became the director of the library at her undergraduate alma mater, […]
For the past couple of years, SIS Associate Professor Vandana Singh has been increasingly sought after to speak about her research on women and marginalized people in software engineering—namely how those groups often face a toxic culture of inequity, exclusion, discrimination, and even outright bullying in their field. Singh recently won the highly competitive Google […]
In less than two years, recent MSIS graduate Gillian Kelly (’21) went from being unfulfilled at her job to grinning ear-to-ear whenever she talks about her new chosen profession in the field of information sciences. “I couldn’t really imagine a world in which I would be so happy in my work life. Work was always […]
Featured student: H.B. Fach Location: Lavergne, Tennessee Career Background: I’ve been in libraries in one form or another since 2008, ever since I started part-time at Lavergne Public Library. I went to Nashville Public Library after that, and then the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Currently I’m with HCA Healthcare in their Knowledge Management division. […]
After serving in different positions over several years in two Association of Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) Special Interest Groups (SIGs), Associate Professor Awa Zhu was recently elected to serve as the Deputy SIG Cabinet Director for ASIS&T. She will transition into the role at the end of the upcoming ASIS&T Annual Meeting, which is […]
At the end of this month, the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, will be well-represented at the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) in Salt Lake City. It is at this conference that SIS Professor and Director Abebe Rorissa will move into the position of ASIS&T President-Elect Nov. 2, but many others from the SIS […]
After working 13 years at the same place, Ari Baker decided it was time to see where else they could leverage their information sciences skills. Though Baker loved being a librarian at the Blount County Public Library, they realized their entire career had been spent there. That’s when they saw the job opening for the […]
Featured Student: Matt Cowan Location: Knoxville, Tennessee Education/Career Background: I finished undergraduate in 2014 at the University of Alabama, where I studied geology. Between then and now, I worked largely in real estate and hospitality. Why information sciences? I came to the School of Information Sciences because I realized there’s such a gap in how […]
A collaboration between the College of Communication and Information PhD student and  School of Information Sciences professor has resulted in innovative research that reaches into the future of AI-powered voice digital assistants and explores how it can be more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. This research resulted in a co-authored paper and an award for the doctoral […]
