This note is to announce that Dr. Abebe Rorissa, an internationally known information sciences scholar, has agreed to become Professor and Director of the School of Information Sciences effective July 1, 2021 (see his CV attached). He is currently Associate Dean for Faculty Development and Associate Professor in the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at State University of New York (SUNY) at Albany. Please join me in welcoming Dr. Rorissa to CCI and UT ([log in to unmask])!

His research interests focus on: organization and retrieval of information; adoption, use and impact of information and communication technologies; and human information behavior. He taught a number of classes in Information Sciences at SUNY Albany including: Research Methods for Informatics, Fundamentals of Information Technology, The Information Environment, and Digital Imaging & the Web.

Dr. Rorissa has held many leadership positions in the Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T), the major international professional organization in information sciences, including chair of the Nominations Committee, member of the Strategic Planning Task Force, chair of the Awards & Honors Committee, and served as an elected member on the ASIS&T Board of Directors. He is also the advisor for the ASIS&T Africa chapter. In 2014, Dr. Rorissa was the recipient of the ASIS&T SIG Member of the Year Award.

He is a member of the Advisory Board of several refereed journals including Libri: International Journal of Libraries and Information Studies, the  Ethiopian Journal of Science and Sustainable Development, and the Pakistan Journal of Library and Information Science.

Dr. Rorissa is also a leader with respect to diversity and inclusion. At SUNY Albany he led efforts to recruit and retain a diverse faculty, initiated a strategic planning effort for justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, and developed academic initiatives to attract and mentor a diverse student body. He is a multilingual person of color with wide international and national experience with working and mentoring students of diverse backgrounds. He retains academic connections to the University of Namibia, and to Jimma University and Addis Ababa University both in Ethiopia, in addition to being well known in the North American Information Sciences community as a scholar and leader.

He holds a PhD in Information Science and a CAS (Certificate of Advanced Studies – Post Master’s) in Digital Image Management from the University of North Texas, and an MS in Information Science and a BS in Mathematics from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia.

In addition to welcoming Abebe to CCI and UT, please join me in thanking the search committee (Suzie Allard, Tanya Arnold, Mark Dean, Brian Dobreski, Sally McMillan Steve Smith and Awa Zhu) for its good work with special thanks to Steve Smith for chairing the committee and to Beth Cole and Elizabeth Greene (UT Libraries Executive Director of Administrative Services) for their excellent support of the committee’s efforts!

Finally, please also join me in thanking Carol Tenopir for her excellent work as SIS Interim Director during the past year!