Dr. Barbara B. Moran, professor, School of Information and Library Science
at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has been appointed the
first Louis Round Wilson Distinguished Professor effective July 1, 2010.

The professorship is the result of a gift from the estate of the School's
founder, Louis Round Wilson, and matching funds from the state of North
Carolina. The gift of $374,077.89 was presented during a special ceremony
in March 2005 by Wilson's grandsons, Dean Edmonds III and Louis Round
Wilson Edmonds. Matching funds totaling $167,000 were later added through
the Distinguished Professors Endowment Trust Fund, established in 1985 to
create endowed chairs by the North Carolina General Assembly.

"This professorship was made possible by the Wilson family in memory of
their grandfather who founded the School and dedicated his career to
librarianship," said Dr. Gary Marchionini, dean and Cary C. Boshamer
Distinguished Professor. "Because of this extraordinary generosity, we were
able to create the School's first endowed professorship. We are fortunate
to have Barbara Moran already on our faculty as an internationally
recognized leader in academic libraries and an obvious heir to the Louis
Round Wilson and Ed Holley legacies of library scholarship at UNC."

Moran joined the faculty at SILS in 1981 and previously held the position
of dean at the School from 1990 to 1998. During her tenure as dean, she
added an undergraduate minor program and increased graduate enrollment by
32 percent. She enhanced technical resources, hired the School's first
development director, established the first Board of Visitors and doubled
the School's endowment. She increased the international involvement of SILS
and began the very successful Oxford and Prague Summer Seminars.

In May of 2009, she was appointed to the position of interim dean while the
search for a new dean took place.

Moran has been an active member of the SILS faculty continuing her teaching
and research. She has taught primarily in the areas of management and
academic librarianship and her research has focused on various aspects of
management including leadership, organizational structures and career
progression patterns. In addition, she continues to direct the School's
international programs where she has expanded the global outreach of SILS,
most recently developing a new program to London, England. She co-wrote the
textbook, Library and Information Center Management among others. She also
serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Chapel Hill Public
Library and as a member of the Board of Governors of the UNC Press.

In honor of Dr. Moran's appointment as Louis Round Wilson Distinguished
Professor, the School will host a special event on September 17, 2010. The
celebration will take place in the Pleasants Family Room of the Wilson
Library at 2 p.m. The Honorable Robert Martin, former director of the
Institute of Museum and Library Services; professor emeritus, School of
Library and Information Studies at Texas Woman's University; and SILS
alumnus, will provide the keynote address. A reception will immediately
follow. The event is free and open to the public.


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Wanda Monroe
Director of Communications
School of Information and Library Science
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
100 Manning Hall
Campus Box 3360
Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360
Phone: 919.843.8337
Web site: sils.unc.edu
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