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Apply for an Information Technology Rural Librarian Master’s Scholarship (Phase II) (ITRL2) – Be an Agent of Change in the 21^st Century!

Are you a paraprofessional without a master's degree working in a rural library in the Southern and Central Appalachian region? Do you want to pursue graduate education via distance to develop your information technology skills and make a difference in your library and community? Are you interested in improving your library services and integrating information technology solutions that are tailored towards meeting the needs of your rural communities? 

If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you are a prime candidate for a University of Tennessee Information Technology Rural Librarian Master's Scholarship (Phase II) (ITRL2) that will be awarded to thirteen of the best applicants. Your goal should be to develop competencies that integrate information technology and rural library management issues towards community development outcomes. You should already have earned a bachelor’s degree (or in progress of completion by May 2013) and work in a rural library setting in Southern and Central Appalachia.

PROGRAM BENEFITS: Full-tuition scholarship for two years for students from library/information science Academic Common Market states in the Southern and Central Appalachian region [Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia]. For students from other states, tuition will be reimbursed to the in-state amount [for details of tuition and fees, see URL: http://www.sis.utk.edu/fees]. Allowance for materials will be provided. This is a part-time degree program with a structured, individually-tailored information technology and rural management-based curriculum with formal and informal professional mentoring by educators and practitioners.

These ITRL2 Scholarships are funded by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services. It follows the success of the first round of ITRL Scholarships that were awarded to sixteen SCA rural librarians [For details about the recently concluding ITRL program and student’s work see URL: http://www.sis.utk.edu/rural-librarianship].  

APPLICATION & ADMISSION: Eligibility & Requirements

-          Currently working in a rural Appalachian library.

-          Completed bachelor’s degree.

-          A 3.25 cumulative GPA in undergraduate coursework and GRE scores (above the fifty percentile) or a cumulative GPA of 3.0 in 12 or more hours of graduate coursework.

-          Complete the UT School of Information Sciences Admission Application online available via URL: http://www.sis.utk.edu/admissions. 

-          Complete the ITRL2 Scholarship Program Application [http://www.sis.utk.edu/files/ITRL2ScholarshipProgramApplication.pdf] and email to [log in to unmask]

DEADLINES: UT SIS Admission Applications and the ITRL2 Scholarship Program Applications will be reviewed in January 2013. Students will be admitted into the ITRL2 program by May 2013. ITRL2 Program duration is June 2013 – August 2015.

Contact: Bharat Mehra, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Information Sciences, University of Tennessee. Email: [log in to unmask] Phone: 865-974-5917.

For more information about ITRL2 see URL: http://www.sis.utk.edu/itrl2

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