Biographies
Barbara Alvarez is a reference librarian and the bibliographer for Modern Languages and Cultures in Rush Rhees Library, University of Rochester. Besides working at the reference desk, she provides bibliographic instruction, manages foreign language and literature collections, participates in a number of digital initiatives and forms part of the library’s usability team. In Fall 2006, Barbara joined the Writing Center consultants to provide tutoring in English and Spanish. Barbara holds an M.A. in Hispanic literatures and an M.L.I.S., both earned at the University of Alberta, Canada. Before joining the Reference Department at Rochester in 2001, she worked as a librarian and Spanish language instructor at the University of Alberta.
Steven J. Bell is Associate University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services at Temple University. Prior to that he was Director of the Paul J. Gutman Library at Philadelphia University and Assistant Director at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he also earned his Ed.D. in 1997. He writes and speaks frequently on topics such as information retrieval, library and learning technologies, and academic librarianship. An Adjunct Professor at the Drexel University College of Information Science and Technology, he teaches courses in academic librarianship and information retrieval. He maintains a Web site and Weblog, “Steven Bell’s Keeping Up Web Site” and “The Kept-Up Academic Librarian”, that promote current awareness skills and resources. Steven is a co-founder of the Blended Librarian’s Online Learning Community on the Learning Times Network and has participated in numerous virtual presentations. For additional information about Steven J. Bell or to find links to the various Web sites he publishes and maintains, point your browser to http://staff.philau.edu/bells
Nancy Van Note Chism is Professor of Higher Education at Indiana University. Until August of 2006, she served as Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Associate Dean of the Faculties at Indiana University. In this role, she provided leadership for central services supporting faculty and academic staff as teachers and scholars. She has been involved in directing or participating in several major funded projects, including the National Consortium on Preparing Graduate Students as College Teachers (Pew Charitable Trusts), The Ohio State Cluster Preparing Future Faculty Program (Pew Charitable Trusts), and the Rigorous Research in Engineering Education and Gateway Engineering Education Programs (National Science Foundation). She is Past President of the Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education, an organization devoted to improving college teaching, and in 1998 received the Spirit of POD award from that association.
Dr. Chism is the author of Peer Review of Teaching (1999) and editor or co-editor of five other volumes, the latest of which is The Importance of Physical Space in Creating Supportive Learning Environments (2002). A second edition of Peer Review of Teaching is scheduled to appear this spring. She has authored or co-authored numerous book chapters and journal articles on teaching and learning in higher education and developing faculty and teaching assistants as teachers, with particular emphasis on multicultural teaching and program evaluation. Dr. Chism teaches courses in professional development, the academic profession, and teaching and learning in higher education as well as qualitative research methods. Dr. Chism was a key collaborator in two programs that won Certificates of Excellence in the 2002 and 2003 Hesburgh Awards, a national faculty development competition. At Ohio State, she was named Ameritech Faculty Fellow in 1997, and received the Outstanding Teaching Award of The Ohio State University College of Education, the Outstanding Service Award of the Graduate Student Association, and the Distinguished Service Award of the Graduate School. At Indiana University, she was elected to the Faculty Colloquium on Excellence in Teaching, the university’s teaching academy, in 2004, was selected as the IUPUI Outstanding Faculty Woman Leader in 2004, and won the Joseph T. Taylor Award for Excellence in Diversity Award at IUPUI in 2005.
Ann Cullen is Curriculum Services Librarian, Baker Library Services, Harvard Business School. She works directly with faculty in Harvard Business School’s MBA program to incorporate business research resources into the course curriculum. This work builds on her four years as the Library’s Finance Librarian. Ann has worked in the private and public sector as an educator, researcher, and information professional. She is currently teaching a course in Business Research at Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Ann has a BA in Art History and Economics from NYU, an MLS from Columbia University, and a Certificate in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from Cambridge University’s Royal Society of Arts.
Medha Devare is the Life Sciences and Bioinformatics Specialist at Mann Library, Cornell University. She was a Research Associate at Cornell before entering the library world, coordinating and conducting research to evaluate the comparative effects of transgenic crops and insecticide on soil microbial populations. In addition to providing reference and consultation support at Mann Library, Medha teaches bioinformatics and library research workshops, teaches a 1 credit course for the genomics curriculum, provides bioinformatics tutorials for other courses, and coordinates VIVO (http://vivo.library.cornell.edu), a web portal that provides a unified view of life sciences information across Cornell’s departments and colleges. She is a lead author in the World Banks International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), and writes on biotechnology for the East, South Asia, and the Pacific region. She received her M.S. in Environmental Toxicology and Ph.D. in Crop and Soil Sciences, both at Cornell University.
Kathleen Dreyer is the Business Electronic Services and Reference Librarian at Columbia’s Watson Library of Business and Economics. Kathleen is currently teaching the Business Information course in Columbia University’s Master of Science in Information and Archive Management. Before coming to Columbia, Kathleen was a reference librarian at the Lippincott Library at the University of Pennsylvania. Kathleen holds the M.L.I.S. from Drexel University.
Sarah Eriksen is Associate Director, Baker Research Services, Harvard Business School. Sarah is responsible for managing a group of information professionals who provide faculty and doctoral students with data and information support for research and teaching. The group is knowledgeable about the contents of qualitative and quantitative databases and library collections, and is expert at locating, interpreting, extracting, and managing relevant content. She also leads a community of practice of information researchers across HBS that champions the School’s Information Research Standards. Sarah has worked in corporate and academic settings. She has a BA from Bates College and an MBA from Babson College.
Barbara Esty is Curriculum Services Librarian, Baker Library Services, Harvard Business School. As part of a new unit in Baker Library, Barbara works in collaboration with Faculty, Research Associates, and other subject matter experts in a team environment to support curriculum and course development. Barbara has been at HBS since 2000, working primarily to embed Baker Services in Executive Education programs. Currently she is supporting the revision of an MBA course, creating a resource portal to support students’ projects, and contributing to the creation of a learning community for Executive Education. Barbara has a BA from Wheaton College (Norton, MA) and an MLS from Simmons College.
Susan Fliss is the Director of Education and Outreach for Dartmouth College Library. Education & Outreach, the Library's education program, fosters collaboration in teaching and learning among faculty, students, staff, and librarians to advance information literacy. Susan's interests include the professional development of librarians as teachers, collaborative initiatives between the library and other campus partners to support information literacy education, and the use of learning technologies. Prior to her current position Susan worked at Mount Holyoke College, initially as a reference librarian and then as the training coordinator for Curriculum Support and Instructional Technology.
Patricia Renfro is Deputy University Librarian at Columbia. Before joining Columbia in 2000 she was Director for Public Services at the University of Pennsylvania. She has also held positions at the University of Kentucky, the Library Company of Philadelphia and the Folger Shakespeare Library. She has an MA from the University of Kentucky, a Postgraduate Diploma in Librarianship from the University of London, and a BA from the University of York. She is a member of the Board of the New York State Higher Education Initiative, and has served on a number of ALA and RLG committees. She has published in the area of resource sharing and faculty use of digital resources.
Deb Wallace is Managing Director, Baker Library Services, Harvard Business School and is responsible for the “infostructure” that supports Faculty’s information research and teaching activities. The group’s goal is to enhance knowledge creation at HBS by aligning information expertise (services and content) to Faculty course development, case writing, and research needs. Deb has worked in the private and public sectors as an educator, information professional, and consultant. She has written and spoken widely on organizational learning, communities of practice, and collaboration. Deb has a BSc from Moorhead State University, an MEd from the University of Manitoba, and a PhD from the University of Toronto.
Sarah Barbara Watstein is Associate University Librarian for Research and Instructional Services at UCLA. Sarah received her Master in Public Administration (M.P.A.) in 1985 from New York University, and her Master of Library Science (M.L.S) in 1977 from the University of California, Los Angeles. Sarah is active professionally and has held a variety of leadership positions within ALA. She has published extensively in two broad areas - - academic librarianship and HIV/AIDS. The AIDS Dictionary (New York: Facts on File, 1998) was selected as an Outstanding Reference Source for 1999 by the ALA Reference Sources Committee. Most recently, she and a colleague, Stephen E. Stratton, completed The Encyclopedia of HIV/AIDS (New York: Facts on File, 2003). With Eleanor Mitchell, of Dickinson College, she is co-editor of RSR/Reference Services Review, a quarterly, refereed journal dedicated to the enrichment of reference knowledge and the advancement of reference and instructional services. Current service challenges at the UCLA Library include planning the Library’s presence in Second Life; integrating the Library within the University’s common collaboration and learning environment; designing learning spaces that are relevant for the next generation; and developing a suite of Web-based services that complement traditional, face-to-face, services. Sarah is devoted to her Weimaraner, Max Watstein.
Kate Wittenberg is Director of the Electronic Publishing Initiative at Columbia (EPIC), where she directs the electronic resources Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO), Columbia Earthscape, the Gutenberg-e online history project, Digital Anthropology Resources for Teaching, Jazz Studies Online, the Amistad Digital Resource in African-American History, and the Core Integration for the National Science Digital Library. Kate's work focuses in particular on the creation of new models for scholarly communication, sustainable business plans for digital scholarly publishing, collaborative organizational models, and the evaluation of use and costs of scholarly and educational digital resources. EPIC develops relationships among scholars, technologists, publishers, librarians, and national and international partners that move beyond the organizational and disciplinary categories within the traditional university infrastructure. Kate writes and speaks frequently on the topics of scholarly communication in the online environment and digital publishing.