From January 2019, I joined the
School of Library and Information Studies at the
University of Alabama as Professor and EBSCO Endowed Chair in Social Justice. My research focuses on diversity and social justice in library and information science (LIS) and community informatics or the use of information and communication technologies to empower minority and underserved populations to make meaningful changes in their everyday lives. I have applied action research to further engaged scholarship and community engagement while collaborating with racial/ethnic groups, international diaspora, sexual minorities, rural communities, low-income families, small businesses, and others, to represent their experiences and perspectives in the design of community-based information systems and services. From January 2005 – December 2018 I was a faculty member in the
School of Information Sciences at the
University of Tennessee. I completed my doctoral program in December 2004 from the
School of Information Sciences at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (then called the Graduate School of Library and Information Science).
I primarily teach courses on social justice and inclusion advocacy, diversity leadership in information organizations, outreach services to diverse populations, community-engaged scholarship, public library management, collection development, resources and services for adults, and grant development for information professionals.