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SCILS SAYS FAREWELL TO DEAN SYDELL SPINNER
Dean Gus Friedrich, Associate Dean Sydell Spinner,
Dean Emeritus Todd Hunt,
and Dean Emeritus Richard Budd
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On December 8, 2006, the SCILS faculty and staff threw a retirement party to celebrate the distinguished career
of Associate Dean Sydell Spinner. She is leaving the University after 25 years, the last 22 at SCILS. The festivities
were sponsored by the SCILS Alumni Association.
The landmark occasion brought together Dean Gus Friedrich, Dean Emeritus Todd Hunt and Dean Emeritus Richard Budd
for the first time. In their remarks, all three men spoke about the significant contributions Spinner made
in establishing the school and maintaining its standing at Rutgers and throughout academia. This theme was echoed
by Manager of Media Services Steve Miller. "Look at SCILS today: As we approach our 25th anniversary,
we are a well-respected and much honored fixture at one of the world's great universities.
Our undergraduate departments are recognized for the quality of our students and the strength
of our faculty. Our graduate departments are the envy of institutions around the world for
the same reasons. All of these accolades would have never been heaped on us without you." Good luck Sydell!
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SCILS ALUMNI ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT AT THE TEXAS BOWL!
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Gary Radford (SCILS AA President), Meg Radford (future Rutgers alumni), and Marie Radford
(Associate Professor, LIS, and SCILS AA Faculty Liaison) at Reliant Stadium, Houston, Texas,
watching the Rutgers football beat Kansas State in the Texas Bowl, December 28, 2006.
Gary Radford and Zahara Wadud-Pinkett, Rutgers Alumni Association.
The Radford family with Angela DeMartini, former secretary for the MCIS program, and her husband Carl.
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MEET THE NEW ASSOCIATE DEAN
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Karen Novick is the new associate dean for administration and student services at SCILS, replacing Sydell Spinner who retired after 22 years. Karen first joined SCILS in 1993 as director of Professional Development Studies, the off-campus/continuing education unit of the school. She wrote a dozen successful grant proposals and built the program to a million dollar operation during her thirteen years in that position. Under her leadership Professional Development became the first program at Rutgers to offer an entirely online course (in 1996) and an entirely
online certificate program (in 1998). Working with the Department of Library and Information Science, she helped bring a $1 million grant to SCILS in 2004 to support development of an online option for the MLIS degree program. She worked with the New Jersey Department of Education to help clarify new regulations related to school library certification and
received state approval for two certification programs offered by Professional Development.
Another milestone was the development of the Preservation Management Institute, a competitive admission
certificate program that brings collections managers from around the hemisphere to New Jersey for an
intensive educational experience.
"In Professional Development Studies I was responsible for strategic planning, student advising,
human resources management, financial management, marketing, and the range of administrative tasks that go
along with running an academic program," Karen notes. "The position of associate dean includes all of this
and more, including facilities oversight, and of course serves much larger faculty, staff, and student bodies.
I have a great deal to learn in the new job, but I am really enjoying the opportunity to work with so many
new people both at SCILS and around the university. Many LIS alumni already know me through my work
in Professional Development and my time as a librarian in Monmouth County."
Before coming to Rutgers Karen was a public library director, and earlier in her career she was a public relations
manager in higher education, so her background matches several SCILS curricular areas. She is a SCILS
alumna, having graduated with the first class of the merged school in 1993. Karen has a bachelor's
degree from the University of Pennsylvania in linguistics as well as her MLIS from Rutgers.
She lives in Highland Park with her husband, Alan, and has three daughters, one in high school,
one at Yeshiva University, and one at Rutgers.
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LESLIE BURGER, PRESIDENT OF THE AMERICAN LIBRARY ASSOCIATION TO SPEAK AT SCILS CONVOCATION IN MAY
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The SCILS Convocation is an annual ceremony held with great pomp and circumstance to recognize SCILS students,
both graduate and undergraduate, who are graduating and joining the august ranks as SCILS alumni.
Convocation is held in the College Avenue Gym, on the evening before university commencement.
This year, SCILS Convocation will be held on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 at 5:00pm. American Library
Association President and Director of Princeton Public Library, Leslie Burger will give the
convocation address. Leslie is the director of the Princeton Public Library and the current
president of the American Library Association. The SCILS Alumni Association will host a reception for graduates,
their families, and the faculty immediately following the convocation.
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This page was last updated June 15, 2007,
by Gary P. Radford.
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