Rutgers iSchool faculty and doctoral students will participate in the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) 2025 Annual Conference, October 6–8, in Kansas City, Missouri. Marking ALISE’s 125th year and themed “Decolonising Pedagogies: Agency, Identity, Practices,” the conference invites the Library and Information Science (LIS) community to reflect on how we teach, research, and lead for equity, justice, and care. SC&I is proud to support ALISE 2025 as a Bronze Sponsor.

“It is both a call and an opportunity: to reconsider entrenched frameworks, to uplift diverse voices, and to reimagine what it means to educate for equity, justice, and care,” wrote ALISE President Vanessa Irvin.

ALISE 2025 will feature keynote speaker Safiya U. Noble, Ph.D., librarian, scholar, and author of "Algorithms of Oppression." Dr. Noble will deliver a plenary address, “Toward an Ethic of Social Justice in Information,” followed by a fireside chat with Conference Chair Tony Dunbar, Ph.D., of Dominican University’s School of Information Studies.

SC&I Presenter and Sessions

On Wednesday, October 8, SC&I doctoral student Juliana Mestre will present “Post-Structural Information Realism” during a poster session and participate in the panel “The Great Unravelling: Unmaking and Remaking Information Worlds.”

Why This Theme Matters

The ALISE Annual Conference is a leading venue for innovation in LIS curricula, research methods, and community-engaged practice. In 2025, “Decolonising Pedagogies: Agency, Identity, Practices” shifts the focus from technology’s impacts to our shared humanity in LIS—how identity, heritage, and lived experience shape teaching, research, and leadership. Amid rapid AI change and pressures such as book bans and anti-DEI efforts, the theme foregrounds inclusive, decolonising pedagogies, identity and agency in learning, ethical leadership, and practices that advance equity and care.

Explore SC&I Programs and the ALISE Conference

SC&I’s participation in ALISE 2025 underscores SC&I’s commitment to advancing critical conversations about the future of truth and information in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. Learn more about SC&I’s Ph.D. program in Communication, Information and Media, Master of Information (MI) program, and the Department of Library and Information Science. ALISE is a nonprofit organization that serves as the intellectual home of faculty, staff, and students in library and information science and allied disciplines. View the conference website for more details.