iSchool faculty at the 2025 college retreat.
We want to recognize the hard work and accomplishments of our faculty and staff during the academic year. Watch as the listings on this page increase.
Valerie Byrd Fort was accepted into the second cohort of the American Library Association’s Law for Librarians program. This train-the-trainer initiative provides training and resources to help library workers understand the legal issues that shape library service. Participants in the program are equipped to bring this knowledge back to their own communities.
Congratulations to Vanessa Kitzie and Travis Wagner (alum), honored with the Innovation Award from the ASIS&T SIG-USE) for their paper "If I were given the opportunity in today's world at 18 to go be in a seedy, dirty gay bar to meet community, I would": Informational functions, loss, and transformation of queer spaces.
The paper is to be presented at the ASIS&T 2025 Conference, Washington, D.C., Nov. 14-18.
Jenna Spiering won two research paper awards from the American Association of School Librarians for her pieces – Contesting Queer Books: Analyzing the Discourses in Public Comment Sections at School Board Meetings (co-authored with alum Rhys Dreezen Bowman) and From Book Rating to Book Bans: A Critical Content Analysis of BookLooks.org’s Report Cards on LGBTQIA+ Titles.
Augusta Baker Endowed Chair Nicole Cooke was elected as the new president of the Association for Library and Information Science Education.
She will formally begin this role in October of 2025 at the ALISE annual conference.
As an academic advisor, she goes above and beyond to support students with care, encouragement
and guidance.
Her positivity and teamwork inspire those around her, making her an invaluable part
of our team.
This past June, Sabrina served as one of the staff members on the CIC's study abroad program to Barcelona, Spain. She was an incredibly valuable addition to the team.
Matilda exemplifies the spirit of the College of Information and Communications through her positivity, initiative, and deep care for our community. She consistently brings a great attitude to work every day, which has a profoundly positive impact on morale. Matilda’s humor, warmth, and can-do spirit create an atmosphere where others feel valued and supported, helping to foster a genuinely positive and inclusive workplace culture.
The School of Information Science has been granted continuous accreditation by the American Library Association through 2032.
This represents an unbroken streak of accreditation for the MLIS program dating back to 1974 and confirms that the iSchool maintains compliance with the demanding standards established by the ALA.
Fifteen months of effort went into compiling the portfolio necessary for the reaccreditation assessment.
Congratulations to all of the faculty and staff who contributed to the successful completion of this process!
Vanessa Kitzie's teaching reflects a dynamic, inclusive and critically engaged approach rooted in constructionist, participatory and queer pedagogies. Drawing on critical pedagogy, feminist theory and digital literacy research, she centers students as creators of knowledge through interactive, research-based learning experiences.
This award recognizes a faculty member who excels in research and scholarship and utilizes a synergistic approach to promote and inspire excellence in research or creative scholarship and perform these activities beyond the scope of their expected duties.
Fontes McCartin was recognized for a number of achievements, including: forged new partnership with Fusion Cyber; successful preparation for reaccreditation visit / report; built a staff team from scratch within the school; and created a new strategic plan for the school; CRE’s 20th anniversary.
This faculty award is for a record of research, creative and/or scholarly work that exceeds expectations in the field, demonstrates exceptional potential, and makes clear contributions to research and scholarship during a short time at USC. This award acknowledges contribution to the CIC and university.
Amie Freeman was the recipient of the iSchool Adjunct Teaching Award. The honor was announced at the annual Deans' and Directors' Lecture and is given to an adjunct faculty who excels in the classroom and in the profession.
Vanessa Kitzie and Travis Wagner (Ph.D. alum) won the Association of Library and Information Science Education's (ALISE) Bohdan S. Wynar Research Paper Competition for their paper "In Many Ways, You're This Person Who's Providing Light”: Theorizing Embodied Responses to Information Absence within LGBTQIA+ Communities." They will present the paper at the ALISE 2024 Conference in Portland, Oregon in October.
Rachel Williams won the ALISE Pratt Severn Faculty Innovation Award, which honors innovation by full-time faculty members, or a group of full-time faculty members, who incorporate evolving information technologies in the curricula of accredited master’s degree programs in library and information studies. The award was established in 1996 and includes a $1,000 cash award. Williams' project focused on using VR training to teach library science students mental health first aid through learning deescalation techniques.
Ehsan Mohammadi was accepted into the USC Propel Research Mentorship Program. This one-year training program is designed to prepare faculty for securing federal grants. The application process is highly competitive, and acceptance into this program signifies the university’s recognition of exceptional research capabilities.
Jenna Spiering (PI) - Extending School Librarian Preparation Through Transitional Mentorship with Early Career School Librarians - $374,194
Vanessa Kitzie (PI) - Leveraging National Library Partnerships to Develop a Community-Driven Online LGBTQIA+ Consumer Health Guide - $249,980
Feili Tu-Keefner (PI), Brett Robertson (Co-PI) - Project Library PREPARE: Planning, Response, Emergency Preparedness, and Resilience Education - $249,721
Dick Kawooya (PI) - Fostering Information and Knowledge Access in the Digital Environment: A Situational Analysis of Legal-regulatory Frameworks in ARIPO Region University of Cape Town, South Africa, grant from the International Development Research Centre - $100,000
Cultivating Strategic Partnerships Between Libraries and LGBTQIA+ Organizations for
LGBTQIA+ Youth Collections, Programming, and Services
Vanessa Kitzie, Jenna Spiering
Award amount: $3,000
Developing an Intervention to Reduce Pressures for Code Switching Among Black Physicians
in South Carolina
Darin Johson, Feili Tu-Keefner
Award amount: $ 3,000