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April 18th, 2019
Take time out to relax and de-stress during prep and finals weeks this spring. Beginning Monday, April 22, Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies will host Hicks Study Breaks to help students take a break from studying in the Hicks Undergraduate Library. A full list of the events, with times and dates, is below.
All events are free and open to all Purdue students and will be held in the Hicks Undergraduate Library’s main common area.
Prep Week
Finals Week
April 12th, 2019
Faculty in the Purdue School of Engineering Education, Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies, and the Purdue Department of English engaged 53 engineering students in the Engineering in the World of Data Learning Community in compelling outside-of-the-classroom activities to enhance student learning.
University Residences at Purdue University recently recognized outstanding faculty, staff, and resident assistants involved in learning communities for their exceptional work during the 2018-19 school year.
Faculty and staff who led the Engineering in the World of Data Learning Community were honored with the Academic Connection Award, which recognizes the learning community that best connects courses to learning experiences outside of the classroom.
Instructors from the Purdue School of Engineering Education, Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies, and the Purdue Department of English organized a variety of active learning activities with the 53 engineering students in the learning community, including:
Faculty on the instruction team for the learning community include:
Learn more about the Engineering in the World of Data Learning Community at www.purdue.edu/learningcommunities/profiles/engineering/engineering_data.html, and more about learning communities at Purdue at www.purdue.edu/learningcommunities/.
March 29th, 2019
On May 23, the Purdue University Graduate School and Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies are hosting an invitation-only symposium on the topic of non-traditional theses and dissertations. (A limited number of invitations are available. Visit www.lib.purdue.edu/etdgiantleaps to request an invitation.)
As universities and colleges have moved from print to digital, electronic theses and dissertations (ETDs) present the opportunity to think beyond the limitations of traditional formats and processes in order to enable students to express their scholarship with greater creativity and impact.
This one-day symposium will feature keynote addresses by University of North Carolina (UNC) Greensboro Dean of Libraries and Professor Martin Halbert and Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies Professor Jean-Pierre Hérubel. Sessions will explore the challenges and opportunities of ETDs by bringing together faculty and staff directly engaged in supervising theses and dissertations and managing the processes and infrastructure for producing them.
There is no cost to attend, and lunch will be provided. For more information, visit www.lib.purdue.edu/etdgiantleaps.
Filed under: faculty_staff, generalMarch 28th, 2019
Courtesy of Purdue News Service
A former associate dean and professor at Purdue University will be returning to campus after being selected the new dean of Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies.
Beth McNeil, dean of library services and professor at Iowa State University, will join Purdue on July 1.
“Beth’s knowledge of the Purdue Libraries organization and our entire campus will be an enormous benefit as we continue to develop an integrated, campus-wide data science education ecosystem,” said Jay Akridge, provost and vice president for academic affairs and diversity. “Beth brings an impressive record of leadership excellence in library and information science to this important position.”
Previously, McNeil was Purdue’s associate dean for academic affairs and a professor of Purdue Libraries. Before her initial appointment at Purdue, McNeil was assistant, and then associate, dean of libraries for the University of Nebraska. She also has held positions in the libraries at Bradley University and the University of Illinois.
McNeil graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor’s degree in English, and her master’s in library from information studies. She received her doctoral degree from the University of Nebraska.
McNeil’s research has been published in numerous academic journals and has focused on areas such as librarians and scholarly communication, changes in libraries in the 21st century and performance management and career development.
“I look forward to working with my colleagues at Purdue as we collaborate to create innovative ways to further the work of our faculty, staff and students,” McNeil said. “Purdue is well-positioned to address the rapid development of data science and to lead the way in integrating information literacy into the curriculum.”
McNeil was one of four finalists for this position. In her role at Purdue, McNeil will lead faculty and staff focused on expanding teaching and learning in data and information literacy, digital scholarship, and undergraduate and graduate research. These efforts will be in conjunction with a University-wide Integrated Data Science Initiative in collaboration with all academic colleges.
By Abbey Nickel, see https://bit.ly/2HKKyq0
Filed under: faculty_staff, generalMarch 21st, 2019
Courtesy of Purdue Today
Purdue University recognized Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies Assistant Professor Heather Howard’s contributions to student learning by honoring her with the Exceptional Early Career Award Tuesday, March 19. Howard was surprised with the news while she was teaching a class in the Wilmeth Active Learning Center.
The Exceptional Early Career Award recognizes outstanding undergraduate teaching among Purdue’s early career, tenure-track faculty. Recipients of the award will receive a $5,000 award with additional funds for a department business account.
Howard is among faculty in other departments being awarded this spring. For more information, visit the original piece in Purdue Today at www.purdue.edu/newsroom/purduetoday/releases/2019/Q1/howard,-harwood-honored-with-university-teaching-awards.html.
Filed under: Faculty E-Newsletter, faculty_staff, general, Uncategorized
March 20th, 2019
Visiting Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at the University of the Pacific Elham (Ellie) Sayyad Abdi will present “Immigrants: An Information Literacy Framework” at 10 a.m. Tuesday, April 23 in Stewart Center, room 320, during her visit to Purdue University. The talk is open free to the public and is sponsored by the Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies.
Abdi’s research focuses on uncovering the ways in which different populations conceptualize and engage with information. Her presentation will cover her Australian Research Council-funded study, which explores immigrants’ experiences with information and information literacy to enable them to learn the structure of the new environment, make informed choices, and become active and empowered participants of a new society.
Currently, Abdi is the Australian Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at the University of the Pacific, California. She is an information researcher and working to pioneer the concept of information experience design (IXD), which is about designing and developing interventions for everyday life based on how people engage with information. Her research specifically examines the information experience among immigrant communities.
From 2014–18, Abdi served as an assistant professor in the School of Information Systems at Queensland University of Technology, Australia.
Abdi is a member of the Research Advisory Committee of the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA), chairs the LIS Education in Developing Countries Special Interest Group at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), regularly serves as a reviewer for various information journals, and serves on the program committees of various information conferences.
For more information about this event, contact Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies Associate Professor Clarence Maybee at cmaybee@purdue.edu.
Filed under: faculty_staff, general, press_releaseMarch 18th, 2019
Courtesy of Purdue News Service
The public will have a chance to get a closer glimpse into Purdue alumnus Neil Armstrong’s life through an exhibit presented by Purdue Archives and Special Collections.
The free, public exhibition, “Apollo in the Archives: Selections from the Neil A. Armstrong Papers,” runs through Saturday, Oct. 12 in the Purdue Archives and Special Collections. It is located in Stewart Center inside the Humanities, Social Sciences and Education (HSSE) Library on the fourth floor of the library. The general exhibit hours are 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday-Friday. On Saturday, Oct. 12, in celebration of Purdue University’s 2019 Homecoming, the exhibit will be open 8-11 a.m.
The exhibit commemorates the 50th anniversary of the first manned spaceflight that landed on the moon – where Armstrong took those famed first steps – and coincides with Purdue University’s July celebration of the moon landing, as well as the University’s sesquicentennial celebration, 150 Years of Giant Leaps.
“Neil wanted his collections to be used for both scholarship and research at his alma mater,” said Tracy Grimm, associate head of Purdue Archives and Special Collections and the Barron Hilton Archivist for Flight and Space Exploration, and curator of the exhibition. “Students and researchers have the unique opportunity to have a behind-the-scenes look at Neil’s life and legacy when they conduct research using Neil’s personal papers. This exhibition offers the public an opportunity to get to know Armstrong and the steps leading up to the Apollo 11 mission through access to Armstrong’s papers.”
The exhibition charts Armstrong’s experiences leading up to Apollo 11 mission, including training and coursework, planning for how and where to land on the moon, the success of the mission itself, and the impact it had on society. The following 11 items represent a portion of the items the public can expect to see on display at “Apollo in the Archives”:
In addition to the “Apollo in the Archives,” Purdue’s Ringel Gallery, in partnership with Archives and Special Collections, will present the exhibition “Return to Entry,” which will feature artwork inspired by Armstrong’s archival collection, March 25 to May 11, in the Ringel Gallery, Stewart Center. A reception and a panel discussion will be held at 5:30 on April 4.
For this exhibition, the artists’ challenge was to bring art, engineering, and science together to imagine new horizons informed by archival documents and artifacts contained in the Armstrong Papers and the papers of other astronauts and engineers. This exhibition will feature work by Frances Gallardo, Michael Oatman, and Jennifer Scheuer, who will be part of the panel discussion on April 4.
These exhibitions are one of many events celebrating Purdue’s Sesquicentennial, 150 Years of Giant Leaps. The yearlong celebration is highlighting Purdue’s remarkable history of giant leaps, while focusing on what giant leaps Purdue can take to address the world’s problems. The celebration concludes in October with an astronaut reunion.
Filed under: general, SPECMarch 15th, 2019
The Marshall and Susan Larsen Leaders Academy in the Krannert School of Management provides an ideal place for Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies Associate Professor Ilana Stonebraker to teach Purdue students.
The Academy, according to its website, “provides high-achieving students with enhanced academic opportunities and learning experiences to help them become top performers in the world of business.” The program creates “a culture of achievement”—a phenomenon that Stonebraker, as an instructor of the Management 110 course offered to students in the Academy, not only fosters and sustains in her teaching, but also one she takes to heart in the pursuit of top performance in her own chosen field.
In Fall 2018, Stonebraker was among 12 faculty members inducted into the Purdue University Teaching Academy as a new Teaching Academy Fellow. She is the first ever Libraries and School of Information Studies faculty member to be inducted into the elite program, which recognizes Purdue faculty for their outstanding and scholarly teaching in graduate, undergraduate, or engagement programs. This recognition is just one among many honors Stonebraker has racked up over the last couple of years. In June 2018, she was one of 10 individuals selected by the Tippy Connect Young Professionals (TCYP) in the organization’s annual Top 10 Young Professionals Under 40 Award program. Last summer, she was recognized by the American Library Association (ALA) Library Instruction Roundtable as an author of one of the Top Twenty Library Instruction Articles of 2017. (She was recognized for the same thing in 2016 for a different article.) In early 2017, she was named a “Mover & Shaker” in Library Journal’s annual roundup that honors individuals making significant impacts in libraries and in education around the world. Last fall, too, she was elected to the Tippecanoe County Council (representing District 1).
While the accolades are rewarding, she noted, it is her work—like teaching the highly motivated students in the Larsen Leaders Academy—that really inspires her.
“I like to figure out where students are and help them build bridges to achieve their dreams, to help them imagine and then try things they never would have imagined themselves doing before,” she explained. “One of the ways I do this is through encouraging them to explore the ways they use information in their decision-making processes.”
Stonebraker has been at Purdue since 2012, and she has been teaching in Krannert since 2013. In addition to her teaching course load, she serves as one of Purdue Libraries’ business information specialists in the Roland G. Parrish Library of Management and Economics. She also researches how individuals use information in their studies and in their work and applies the knowledge she gains from that in her teaching.
“That is how I introduce myself to my students. I tell them, ‘I teach information literacy, and I research how people use information. Based on that, I can teach you skills that others cannot teach you here at Purdue,'” she explained. “Knowing how to use and apply information is increasingly important in a 21st-century economy. People in business, particularly, need to know how to use and apply information quickly. That is basically data analytics.”
Stonebraker is among several Libraries faculty who either teach or co-teach credit courses at Purdue in a variety of departments. She proudly points out that librarians tend to be highly engaged instructors who have been developing and practicing effective active-learning techniques and approaches to instruction for many years (perhaps even before “active learning” became an important practice in education).
“Librarians make interesting teachers because we think systematically about problems. Our brains are set up for inputs and outputs,” she added. “Our default is active learning. You can’t really teach students how to research and use information without actively engaging students in research and information use activities.”
Filed under: faculty_staff, general, HSSEBMarch 6th, 2019
There are more than 150 ways to love Purdue University Libraries, and, to help celebrate Purdue University’s Sesquicentennial, we’re asking you to share your stories about some of the ways via the “Why I Love Purdue Libraries” annual video contest! Supported by the Purdue Federal Credit Union, the contest is open to all students on the West Lafayette campus. The deadline to enter is 11:59 p.m. Monday, April 15.
Each academic year since 2013, Purdue Libraries has opened the contest to Purdue University students on the West Lafayette campus and has awarded first, second, and third place prizes to the winning entrants.
First-place prize is $1,000; second-place prize is $750; and third-place prize is $500. Each submission must be from 1-3 minutes in length. Submissions will be evaluated by a team of student and full-time staff in Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies. Winning videos will be shared April 24, Purdue University’s 2019 Day of Giving.
For submission information and complete contest rules and guidelines, visit www.lib.purdue.edu/videocontest, or download the 2019 contest guidelines at https://bit.ly/2IV9rAo.
Below are the winning entries (first, second, third) for the 2017-18 academic year (the contest in 2017-18 focused on the Wilmeth Active Learning Center the first year it opened):
First Place: Cole Griffin and Anna Magner
Second Place: Jake Heidecker
Third Place (Tie): Matt Schnelker
Third Place (Tie): Jason Kelly
March 5th, 2019
Purdue Libraries Assistant Professor Pete Pascuzzi helps researchers dig deeper into their research data. A biochemistry and bioinformatics expert, Pascuzzi is making an impact in Purdue University’s contributions to biological and biochemical research by teaching faculty and students how to use web-based and open-source tools—tools they can use to better analyze and understand their data.
“Pete’s unique perspective and skill set bridge the traditional roles of the library, i.e., information management and analysis, with an important area of modern biology, bioinformatics, and big data analysis,” explained James Fleet, Distinguished Professor, Purdue University Department of Nutrition Science.
Fleet came to know Pascuzzi through a National Institutes of Health-funded research project, “Big Data Training for Translational Omic Research,” a collaboration with Min Zhang (Department of Statistics) and Wanqing Liu (Wayne State University).
“I had heard about Pete’s skills as a bioinformatician and an educator, and I knew he was the piece we needed to round out our team,” Fleet said. “His contribution to our course was necessary for its success. In addition, he has been instrumental in establishing core bioinformatics and data management/analysis courses for the biochemistry department.”
In the recent past, Pascuzzi developed the CellMiner Companion application, one of the open-source tools he teaches researchers to use. “CellMiner Companion is a web application that facilitates the exploration and visualization of output from CellMiner, further increasing the accessibility of NCI-60 data,” states the abstract of the article on pubmed.gov.
CellMiner is a database and web application developed by the National Cancer Institute. Researchers can query the database for gene expression and drug sensitivity data for cancer cells; however, a single query can generate more than 100 files. Many researchers lack the skills to integrate this data, Pascuzzi noted.
“Generating a plot, from publicly available data on cancer cells, isn’t revolutionary. What is revolutionary is that I was able to do it myself—and I am able to teach just about anybody how to do something like that,” he explained. “The technology and data access have moved so quickly that projects like that have become trivial. A decade ago, that would have been a major project. Now it is just all out there.”
Pascuzzi also teaches 400-600 level courses in both biochemistry (BCHM) and information and library studies (ILS), including the ILS 595 course, “Data Management at the Bench” (which he co-teaches with Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies faculty Megan Sapp Nelson and Chao Cai).
“With the work I do here at Purdue, I really want to make an impact on the science, but more importantly, having been a graduate student, I have a lot of empathy with people who get stuck in a place because they don’t have the data skills they need,” Pascuzzi said. “So I have always made a lot of effort to understand what the graduate students need, and that is what motivates a lot of the teaching I do.”
Pascuzzi studied biology and chemistry as an undergraduate, and he earned his Ph.D. in biochemistry at Cornell. As a Libraries and School of Information Studies faculty member in life sciences, Pascuzzi’s subject areas at Purdue include biochemistry, bioinformatics, medicinal chemistry, molecular biosciences, and molecular pharmacology.
Article by Teresa Koltzenburg, Director of Strategic Communication, Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies
Filed under: faculty_staff, general, LIFE