Anniversaries, as they say, are perfect opportunities to celebrate success and contemplate how to leverage past achievements to build future endeavors that make a difference for the individuals and communities we serve. This is precisely what we are doing this year as we celebrate the MSIS program’s 50th anniversary of its accreditation by the American Library Association; the program’s ranking in the top 10 nationally; and the success of every alum, faculty, student, staff, and friend of the School of Information Sciences. Our year-long anniversary celebration culminates at a major event on October 21, 2022. You can find details of the event on the back cover of this issue. Please consider attending the event and joining us in person or virtually. We can’t wait to see you all!
The exemplary alumni featured in this magazine issue are a mere sample of thousands of you who graduated from our master’s program and have represented SIS so well. In the last 12 months of my tenure as director of this great school, I had the pleasure of meeting hundreds of you at various events in Tennessee and around the country, including at the Tennessee Library Association conference in Knoxville and the ALA conference in Washington, D.C. Consistent feedback I received from those I met is that they are proud of their University of Tennessee education and they value our alumni engagement. We are proud of our alumni as well and promise to support your professional development.
In addition to our anniversary celebration, we kicked off the 2022- 2023 academic year on August 24 by welcoming around 440 new and returning undergraduate and graduate SIS students and an excellent new assistant professor, Rebecca Frank. She comes with an extensive research and teaching portfolio in cutting-edge areas that will enhance our ability to expand course offerings and learning opportunities for our students. Our world-class faculty continue to receive highly competitive external grants, institutional, national, and international honors, and awards for their research, teaching, and service.
We concluded a search to replace Hillary Tune, who served SIS for the last four years with distinction, as our communications specialist. We are proud to introduce an MSIS alumna, Jordan Smith, as our new communications specialist. Please contact her at jordansmith@utk.edu whenever you have updates or ideas for SIS articles. We also added a new staff position in student services to better serve current students and alumni.
Our success is not possible without your support. For that, we thank you! Please keep in touch and treat each other with kindness and respect. Go Vols!