GENERAL NEWS: Orientation, SLIS Welcomes Many "News" and ALL Awards

Dear Friends and Colleagues,


Greetings from the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Carolina. Our students have returned, classes have started and we are off and running! Summer sure happens fast! We attended the American Library Association meeting in Anaheim and hooted and hollered when our students won the Student Chapter of the Year award! We celebrated two graduations this summer. One for our Maine, Lobster 3 cohort and one for our Columbia students and as always, these were wonderful celebrations, filled with joy and anticipation. We feel very good that almost all of our graduates have positions waiting for them or are searching for just the right fit. Pictures of both events are on the website http://www.libsci.sc.edu.


On August 16 we held orientation for our new group of students. I am pleased to report that they are the most diverse group with increased representations of both gender and race. When I addressed the group, it was difficult not to jump up and down and shout “Hurray!” These new students are from various backgrounds including engineering, computer science, humanities, education and the social sciences. Collectively they have great GPAs and excellent test scores. We have more Virginia and West Virginia students joining us and it is a pleasure to see them excel and move through their programs of study. This is another group of outstanding students! We really are on a roll! As always, we expect great work from this new group of scholars and know that you will welcome them to our profession.


MANY NEWS: So it’s a new academic year and we have many things to report! We have a new president at USC, Dr. Harris Pastides and we are celebrating our good fortune at such a wonderful match. He understands our School and welcomes our involvement with his initiatives for the university. We have a new director of our sister school in the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies. Dr. Carol Pardun joined us as the director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications and we couldn’t be happier! We have new faculty in Dr. Kendra Albright and Dr. Paul Solomon who join us as associate professors. Their profiles are on the website and I encourage you to take a look at their stellar backgrounds. We are celebrating our good fortune again! We also have two new programs underway. For the Doctoral Students, this is their second year of course work and they are already helping us teach! Our new undergraduate program in Information Science is up and running! We continue to develop the program but are delighted to have some of the very brightest students in our inaugural class.


On September 16 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. we will celebrate our second annual literacy leader awards. Verizon helps sponsor these ALL awards and this year ETV, Reach 2010 and Jane Connor will be honored with awards for their contributions to improving literacy in South Carolina. The event takes place in the State Library on Senate with the lions out front and our Center for Children’s Books and Literacy on the mezzanine.


I hope your school year starts with as much excitement and enthusiasm as we have going! It occurs to me that fall is really a time for new beginnings (and the state fair!) If you want to join us at the fair, let me know. We usually meet outside one of the gates and have a SLIS goes to the fair night. We’ll ride the Ferris Wheel and eat our way from the horse barns to the arts and crafts exhibit where Dean Emeritus, Fred Roper consistently wins blue ribbons for his pound cakes!


Have a good start to fall and let us know if there is anything we can do for you.


Yours,

sam