iSchool faculty at the 2025 college retreat.
We want to recognize the hard work and accomplishments of our faculty and staff during the 2024-2025 academic year. Watch as the listings on this page increase.
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