All News

Newest Alumni Share Career Pathways

July 31, 2014

From archives to libraries, from digital assets to user experience research, the newest alumni of the iSchool have made their ways into very interesting new career paths. Recently, several May 2014 graduates talked about where they are and what they're doing with their new MSIS degrees. Here are the stories of alumni Catherine Bell, Kristin Bongiovanni, Tim Mapp, and Harry Ostlund.

Catherine Bell

What and where is your new position?

Masters Program Re-Accredited To 2021

July 15, 2014

 

The School of Information's Master of Science in Information Studies program received notice of re-accreditation from the American Library Association. The decision was based on the Program Presentation, the External Review Panel Report, all of the reports the program submitted since the last comprehensive review, and the the June 28th meeting with the dean and chair of the ERP. The next comprehensive review visit is scheduled for Spring 2021.

UT iSchool Welcomes New Faculty Member Byron Wallace

June 12, 2014

The UT iSchool is pleased to welcome Byron Wallace, who will be joining us this fall as an assistant professor. His research interests are in data mining/machine learning and natural language processing, with an emphasis on applications in health. Byron is presently a research assistant professor at Brown University, where he is based in the Department of Health Services, Policy & Practice and is also affiliated with the Brown Laboratory for Linguistic and Information Processing (BLLIP) in computer science.

Students Shine at Spring 2014 iSchool Open House

June 11, 2014

Teaching librarians to play psychologist. Mapping flood risk areas. Digitizing a goldmine of Texas music recordings.

These were just a few of the student projects featured at the iSchool's Open House on May 2.

iSchool Student Profile: Katie Thomas

May 26, 2014

 

When Katie Thomas arrived for library volunteer orientation at Casis Elementary School four years ago, she struck veteran librarian Barbara Nichols as quiet and unassuming.

Nichols remembers mentioning - almost as an afterthought - that she could use some help with the Halloween display case. And suddenly, this unassuming volunteer unleashed a creative force that Nichols said transformed the library. It didn't end with Halloween. Thomas kept delivering - creating robots with the students for one author' visit; a circus theme for another.

Advocating for Women in Technology iSchool Showcase

May 13, 2014

Sowmya Sadhasivam spent months working on her project: a digital display using an array of Kindles that aims to recreate the look of a physical bookshelf.

She++ Advancing Women In Technology

April 1, 2014

Sometimes just hearing another woman's experience can plant the seed of possibility.

That's what Marcia McIntosh, a second-year student, found last year when she attended a screening and discussion of the documentary She++. The event, organized by the iSchool's AWIT (Advancing Women in Technology) committee, revealed some troubling statistics. In 2009, the film reports, women earned 52 percent of the math and science degree in the U.S. but only 18 percent of technology-related degrees.

iSchool Alumna Honored at the White House

April 1, 2014

Some educators at a White House gathering said they were hesitant at first to bring new technology into their classrooms. Austin's Eanes school district librarian Carolyn Foote said her attitude has always been, "Why not?" Foote said the "aha moment" where she understood the importance of iPads was while working with a disabled student. He didn't have the fine motor skills to turn the pages of books, but he could flip through pages on an iPad. It gave the student a level of independence he never had before, and Foote wanted to share that independence with all students.

Faculty Profile: Karen Wickett

April 1, 2014

When she was in the second grade, Karen Wickett won the "What the Library Means to Me" essay contest.

It's not an honor she lists on her CV, and she laughs when she remembers how she worked a reference to elephants into the piece.

But her essay included a prescient observation about libraries: "There is a whole world in there to discover."

iSchool Careers: Speed Interviewing

April 1, 2014

When Stefanie Roberts froze up on the first question of the Speed Interviewing event in February, the irony wasn't lost on her.

The question? "What makes you an effective communicator, and what can you do to improve your communication?"

Roberts, who started at the iSchool in January, recovered, gave her answer and, more importantly, received constructive feedback. Then, feeling more poised, she moved on to another table where a different interviewer threw another question at her. Within an hour, she had fielded 12 questions from 12 different people.