Events & Awards

SI Outstanding Student Award

Every year, the faculty of the School of Information recognize one or two outstanding students whose work, involvement with the community, and contributions to the field stand out among their peers. These students are nominated by a member of the faculty and voted on by the School.

2023

Kyairla Davis is in the MLIS program at the University of South Florida, and serves as the current President of the Student Organization of Library and Information Science (SOLIS), the ALA and SLA student group. She has been an outstanding contributor to student activities, as well as working as a graduate assistant to Dr. Natalie Taylor for accreditation related tasks. She produced a LibGuide, Libraries and Incareration, to present information on providing library services within correctional insitutions, which is a resource now displayed on the ALA website. In addition to this award, Kyairla had the honor of being named a 2023 ALA Spectrum Scholar.

Gabriel Vega is in the MS Intelligence Studies program at the University of South Florida. Dr. John Gathegi, whom Gabriel works with as a graduate assistant, speaks to Gabriel's "exceptional analytical abilities, coupled with an unwavering commitment to academic excellenace a deep passion to become an outstanding member of the intelligence community." This sets him apart as a brilliant candidate among the School of Information's MSIS students.

2022

María Feliciano is in her final semester at the MLIS program at the University of South Florida. She served as secretary and president of the Student Organizations of Library and Information Science (SOLIS), providing opportunities for students to engage with each other and established professionals in the field. She co-moderated USF's prestigious Alice G. Smith Lecture, Changing the Face of Librarianship: REFORMA and Library Services to Latino Communities in 2021. María is drawn to libraries to help children and families enrich their lives, and to promote diversity and inclusion. She received the Patricia Andrew Cone Endowed Scholarship during her first semester, and also a REFORMA de Florida stipend to attend the 2022 JCLC. She has spent the last decade working in international education and youth services after graduating from the University of Florida. 

2021

Aparna Ghosh was selected in her second semester (at the MLIS program at the University of South Florida). She has spent many years working in libraries, starting from when she was an undergraduate at Denison University in Granville, Ohio, where she received her BA degree in sociology/anthropology. Since then, she has worked in the libraries of Loyola University Chicago and Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Aparna is also a 2020-2021 ALA Spectrum Scholar and a 2021-2023 ARL Kaleidoscope Diversity Scholar. She is especially interested in digital librarianship, metadata, and assessment.