SIS welcomed two visiting scholars this fall, Professor Tao Yang (left) and Associate Professor Wei Wei Zhang (right). Visiting scholars pursue their research while here, and also observe SIS faculty and students during their stays. It is an opportunity for them to learn about educational practices and enjoy United States college traditions.

The School of Information Sciences is proud that four of its incoming students were selected for prestigious fellowships from the UTK graduate school.

“SIS students often receive fellowships from the Graduate School, but none of us can remember such a large number of students being recognized in the same year. This is just another testament to our students’ excellence,” said Associate Professor Rachel Fleming-May, who is also the SIS director of graduate studies.

The four students and the fellowships they received are:

• Brianna Blackwell, J. Wallace & Katie Dean Graduate Endowment Fellowship
• Erika Fitzpatrick, J. Wallace & Katie Dean Graduate

Rebecca Howard’s (’19) interest in archives was first piqued while working at her university library. She was earning her undergraduate degree in history from Stockton University, and was working at the university’s library when it merged with the Noyes Museum of Art, which gave her an opportunity to be an archives assistant.

The 2019 ALISE Conference was in Knoxville the last week of September, and faculty, students and alumni made a strong showing in both participation and winning awards at the conference, which was co-chaired by SIS Director and Professor Diane Kelly and co-hosted by SIS.

Our award winners were:

• SIS Assistant Professor Brian Dobreski, who tied for third place in the

  Doctoral Student Poster competition for “Values in Knowledge Organization Standards: A Value Analysis of Resource Description and Access (RDA)”

• Alum LaVerne Gray (’19), who received second place for “In a Collective Voice: Uncovering the Black Feminist Information Community of

When Danielle Pollock was an undergraduate, she and a friend devised a plan to open an independent bookstore someday. The rise of online shopping and e-books stymied their dreams, but actually led to some of the research work that the UT PhD alum does today.

“I always knew I was interested in libraries – not just that I liked books, but I liked doing research. When I was looking at potential master’s, I knew that if there was one thing I wanted to do for the rest of my life, librarianship would be that,” she said.

University of Tennessee College of Communication and Information doctoral student Kevin Mallary was diving into information science during his undergraduate and master’s programs in communication at Wake Forest University before he even knew what information science was. At the time, he was focusing his research on website accessibility for users with disabilities.

“When I go back and look at all the references I used, what I cited was literature from information sciences. I didn’t have a clue that [information sciences] was what I was actually studying,” he said.

Featured student: Clancy Anderson

Location: Bristol, Tenn.

Education: Training as a submarine nuclear reactor operator in the Navy, and an undergraduate degree in history from Eastern Connecticut State University

Former SIS Professor Bill Robinson was many things, to many students: exacting, funny, personable, tough, whimsical. All these qualities and more are what make up a big personality that has stuck in the memories of more than three decades of students.

This September, when he turns 80, we are taking the opportunity to recall the many wonderful experiences past students and faculty have had with the man they call Dr. Bill.