Incoming University of Tennessee School of Information Sciences’ graduate student Dorothy Hargett has been awarded a Spectrum Scholarship by the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Diversity. The scholarship provides a $5,000 scholarship award and numerous other benefits from ALA, including free student admission to their annual conference. Dorothy is enrolled in the School’s distance education program and will continue her job as Head of Circulation at Regents University Library in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where she has worked for seven years.

Encouraged to apply for the Spectrum Scholarship by a coworker and SIS alumna, Dorothy is passionate about public services librarianship and plans to continue working in an academic library after graduation.

The Spectrum Scholarship Program is ALA’s national diversity and recruitment effort designed to address under-representation of critically needed ethnic librarians within the profession while serving as a model for ways to bring attention to larger diversity issues in the future. Its mission is to improve service at the local level through the development of a representative workforce that reflects the communities served by all libraries.

Join SIS and ALA Past-President Camila Alire at a Dinner for Spectrum Scholars (April 2011)

SIS is pleased to announce that on April 12, 2011, we will host Dr. Camila Alire, the Immediate Past President of ALA, at a fundraising dinner to support the Spectrum Scholarship Program. This dinner will be a unique opportunity for you to share a meal and conversation with Dr. Alire, support the Spectrum Presidential Initiative, and network with library advocates from around the region.

In tandem with other ALA leaders, Dr. Alire is supporting the Spectrum Presidential Initiative, which is seeking to raise $1 million for the Spectrum Scholarship Program. This initiative supports master’s-level scholarships, two doctoral scholarships, and ensures the program’s future.

Dr. Alire will also present at an SIS Research Forum on April 13, 2011, during her visit to the School. Watch the SIS website and listserv for further details.

More about Dr. Camila Alire

Hispanic Business Magazine named Dr. Camila Alire one of the 100 most influential Hispanics in the country. While president of ALA in 2009-2010, Dr. Alire created several initiatives to support “frontline advocacy” for all types of libraries. “Libraries: the Heart of All Communities” focuses on practical tools to help frontline library staff identify those opportunities to advocate for the value of libraries and their own value on a daily basis. Toolkits were created by frontline public, school, academic and special librarians with those specific audiences in mind.

Dr. Alire is Dean Emerita at the University of New Mexico and Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Co. She served as Dean/Director of Libraries at the University of Colorado at Denver. She is now an adjunct faculty member at Simmons College’s PhD program in Managerial Leadership in the Information Professions, and also an adjunct professor at San Jose University Executive MLIS program. She has served as a community college library director, head of a special library, school librarian (K-12), and assistant to the dean/instructor at the University of Denver Graduate School of Librarianship and Information Management. Dr. Alire received her doctorate in Higher Education Administration from the University of Northern Colorado. She also holds an MLS from the University of Denver. Dr. Alire has chaired several ALA Committees and sat on four ALA President’s Special Advisory Task Forces. She is past president of ACRL and a REFORMA member. Dr. Alire has received many awards and recognitions. For more information, visit http://www.camilaalire.com/index.html.

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Joel Southern
Communications Specialist
School of Information Sciences
College of Communication and Information
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
1345 Circle Park Drive, Suite 451
Knoxville, TN 37996-0341
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(865) 974-6727
jsouthern at utk dot edu
www.sis.utk.edu