For immediate release:
January 6, 2009

For more information, contact:
Jerome Offord Jr.
Association of Research Libraries
jerome@arl.org

ARL Career Enhancement Program Fellows 2009 Selected

Washington DC—The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Career Enhancement Program Coordinating Committee has selected 18 fellows to participate in the inaugural offering of the program.

The ARL Career Enhancement Program, funded by the Institute for Museum and Library Services and ARL member libraries, gives MLS students from underrepresented groups an opportunity to jump-start their careers in research libraries by providing a robust fellowship experience in an ARL member library. This program reflects the commitment of ARL members to create a diverse research library community that will better meet the new challenges of global competition and changing demographics.

The 2009 Career Enhancement Program fellows are:

Anissa Ali, Wayne State University
Sandra Baker, University at Albany, State University of New York
Genevia Chamblee, University of North Texas
Jason Escalante, Pratt Institute
Regina Gong, Wayne State University
George Gottschalk, University of Oklahoma
Katie Henningsen, Long Island University
Susan Hoang, San Jose State University
Hyeran Kang, Indiana University
Adrienne Lai, University of British Columbia
Sara Lee, Pratt Institute
Arturo Longoria, University of Texas at Austin
Bethany McGowan, University of South Carolina
Diana Olivares, University of Arizona
Monica Shin, Simmons College
Veronica Vichit-Vadakan, University of Washington
Minglu Wang, University of Iowa
Yani Yancey, University of Maryland

The Career Enhancement Program has four main components: a six- to twelve-week fellowship experience in an ARL library, a mentoring relationship with a professional librarian throughout the fellowship, participation in the ARL Leadership Institute, and career placement assistance. The host institutions for the fellowship experience are:

University at Albany, State University of New York
University of Arizona
University of California, San Diego
Columbia University
University of Kentucky
National Library of Medicine
North Carolina State University
University of Washington

For more information about the ARL Career Enhancement Program, see http://www.arl.org/diversity/cep/.

The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of 123 research libraries in North America. Its mission is to influence the changing environment of scholarly communication and the public policies that affect research libraries and the diverse communities they serve. ARL pursues this mission by advancing the goals of its member research libraries, providing leadership in public and information policy to the scholarly and higher education communities, fostering the exchange of ideas and expertise, and shaping a future environment that leverages its interests with those of allied organizations. ARL is on the Web at http://www.arl.org/.