Alumnae/i Highlights

ALUMNAE/I HIGHLIGHTS

Callan Bignoli ’12MS

was selected as a Library Journal Mover & Shaker in the Change Agents category. Bignoli has been vocal in her support of library workers throughout the pandemic, and her #ProtectLibraryWorkers campaign received local and national attention. In early 2020, Bignoli and fellow advocates launched Protect Library Workers, a website offering advocacy strategies, resources for re-opening libraries safely, and tracking lay-offs and furloughs in libraries across the Commonwealth.

Simmons Research and Instruction Librarian Stacy Collins ’16MS/’16MA, was selected as a Library Journal Mover & Shaker 2021. Collins also co-presented “Confronting the Myth of Neutrality: Academic Libraries, Advocacy, and Free Speech” with Adriene Lim ’12MS and other co-presenters at the ALA Annual Conference, June 2021.

Kristin Whitworth

’95MS named Librarian of the Year by the New Hampshire School Library Media Association. In March of 2021,

Christina M. Shutt

’10MS was named the new executive director of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library (ALPL). Previously the executive director of the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center in Little Rock, AR, Shutt is the first person of color to lead the ALPL.

The Simmons LIS Alumni Association Board selected Stacie Williams ’11MS as the 2021 SLIS Alumni Achievement Award winner. The award is presented annually to a SLIS graduate who has demonstrated significant achievement and excellence in the library and information professions. Williams is the inaugural Division Chief for Archives and Special Collections at the Chicago Public Library, and is a member of the independent Blackivist collective, which works to preserve Chicago-area Black history. She was recently published in Knowledge Justice: Disrupting Library and Information Science Through Critical Race Theory (MIT Press, 2020). A virtual event was held on October 21, at which Williams accepted the award and gave a presentation, “Learning Beyond the LIS.”

ALUMNAE/I HIGHLIGHTS

Tamar EvangelestiaDougherty ’03MS

was chosen to be director of the Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, and will assume the role in early November. Currently an associate university librarian at Cornell University and a faculty member of the UCLA California Rare Book School, EvangelestiaDougherty brings a blend of expertise in stewardship, interpretation and acquisition of collections, and strategic leadership.

Vicky Biancolo

’06MS, Director of the Library at Miss Hall’s School in Pittsfield, was appointed by Governor Baker to be the newest member of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

Abdulateef Hashim

Khairi ‘13PhD was appointed Dean of the Information & Libraries Department at Al-Mustansiriyah University in Baghdad, Iraq.

Jehan Sinclair ’16MS

was selected the first Anti-Racism Librarian/Archivist at Harvard Library.

Steven D. Booth

’09MS was the keynote speaker at the Visual Resources Association Annual Conference in March 2021. Booth is the archivist/project manager of the Johnson Publishing Company Archive for the Getty Research Institute and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Cathryn F. Czajkowski ’16MS

was honored by the Seacoast chapter of Black Lives Matter as a BIPOC Seacoast Leader. Czajkowski is the Special Collections librarian at the Portsmouth Public Library and the co-founder of the library’s Taskforce for Inclusion, Diversity and Equity. The awards ceremony was held virtually in February 2021.

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