As a single parent raising two young children, Stephanie Dietrich (MS/LIS '18) needed a career where she could balance her family life and work life. After working with foster families in Chicago on the Children's Supplement Security Income (SSI) Project, she also knew that she wanted a career where she could serve her community. Dietrich, who holds a bachelor's degree in sociology, decided to make the jump to public education, returning to school for her MS/LIS degree with a K-12 teaching certification.

Not too many medical students would take a year off from their studies to learn more about an area that interests them. Of course, Dipesh Navsaria (MS/LIS '04) was not your average medical student. He entered the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Urbana with three degrees—a BA in biology and English and a master's in public health from Boston University and a master's in physician assistant (PA) studies, from George Washington University.

Zoë Kaler (MS/IM '18) serves as a senior user experience (UX) designer for the national digital services firm West Monroe. She credits the iSchool with preparing her for a rapidly changing technology landscape.

PhD student Jamillah Gabriel and iSchool alumna Katrina Spencer (MS/LIS ’16) gave the keynote address at the Society of American Archives Annual Conference, which was held on August 25-27 virtually and in Boston, Massachusetts.

The iSchool is pleased to announce the appointment of Adam Rusch as a teaching assistant professor. He was most recently employed as an eLearning specialist in the College of Education, where he helped the college shift to emergency remote learning during the coronavirus pandemic and become one of the first units on the Urbana campus to completely transition to the Canvas Learning Management System.

Tamela Chambers (MS/LIS '05) serves as the branch manager of the Chicago Public Library's Beverly Branch. She is also the recipient of the 2022 Demco Black Caucus American Library Association (BCALA) Excellence in Librarianship Award, which recognizes librarians who have made significant contributions to the promotion of African Americans in the library profession. "I'm deeply honored to be a recipient of an award that so many others that I admire have received," said Chambers. "It is great to have my work acknowledged but is also a reflection of all who took the time to mentor/coach and instruct me on my path to librarianship."

iSchool alumni Jean Wilkins (MS/LIS '85) and Patricia Boze (MS/LIS '88) have been named Illinois Library Luminaries by the Illinois Library Association (ILA). This distinction honors individuals who have made a significant contribution to Illinois libraries. 

Research Affiliate Lian Ruan (MS/LIS '90, PhD '11) has been selected as the recipient of the 2021-2022 Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) Outstanding Library Leadership Award in memory of Dr. Margaret Chang Fung. She was recognized at the CALA awards ceremony and board meeting on June 17.

The iSchool Alumni Association (ISAA) is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2021 Alumni Awards.

Olivia Warren (MS/LIS '21) serves as the program coordinator for Allerton Park and Retreat Center, which is owned by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and located in Monticello, Illinois. She loves serving her community and providing quality programs and other learning opportunities.