2011 UNYSLA Award Winners

Our chapter is able to present two awards to worthy members each year: the Chapter Merit Award and the Student Merit Award.  At the recent Fall Meeting (October 14, 2011 at the Inn Complete in Syracuse, NY). I had the honor of presenting Jill Hurst-Wahl with the Chapter Merit Award and Alison Starkey with the Student Merit Award.

The Chapter Merit Award was created to honor and recognize individuals for their outstanding achievements and contributions to the Chapter. Typically, the Award is given to a Chapter member with an extended period of distinguished service, but others who have contributed significantly to the Chapter in other ways may also be considered.  By unanimous board agreement, Jill Hurst-Wahl was chosen for this award and for good reason. Jill has been active in SLA since 1990, serving in a variety of positions at the Chapter level, as well as the Leadership and Management Division, Information Technology Division and Baseball Caucus. Currently, she serves as a member of the SLA Board of Directors. Jill was recently selected to become the Director of the LIS program at Syracuse University’s iSchool for the coming year.

The UNYSLA Student Merit Award seeks to recognize and reward the active participation of student SLA members through their involvement in their Student Group activities.  Any SLA member who is also enrolled in a masters or PhD level library or information studies program. This year’s award went to Alison Starkey, of the University at Albany School of Information Studies.  Some examples of how she has revitalized the Student SLA Chapter at UAlbany include: increasing membership, expanding professional development opportunities for members and brought educators and practitioners together. She also organized social events, field trips and fund raisers.  Alison currently holds a Graduate Assistant program at the New York State Library Summer Reading Program.

Congratulations to our outstanding awardees!

Elaine M. Lasda Bergman
UNYSLA Past-President