Alma Matters: Danielle Allard Joins uAlberta SLIS; Mike Smit Appointed A/Associate Dean

April 25, 2017

uAlberta SLIS Welcomes New Faculty Member

The School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Danielle Allard as an Assistant Professor, starting July 1, 2017.

Dr. Allard joins SLIS after the completion of a two-year interdisciplinary SSHRC Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at Mamawipawin at the University of Manitoba. She holds a PhD from the Faculty of Information and a collaborative masters degree (MISt) in Information Studies and Gender and Equity Studies, from the University of Toronto. Dr. Allard’s scholarly pursuits fall at the intersection of culture and community, information (its usages, representations, and institutions), and the role that information plays in the promotion of a more ethical and socially just world. Her interests include: the information practices of newcomer and migrant communities; archival decolonization; Indigenous, community, and activist archives; critical information studies; and the inclusion of marginalized communities, cultural heritage, and knowledge domains in digital and real-world information institutions. Dr. Allard has co-authored a number of publications within both Information Studies and Women’s and Gender Studies; her publications can be found in Library Trends, Library and Information Science Research, and Feminist Media Studies. Active in a number of community organizations and professional associations, Dr. Allard is currently co-chair of the Canadian Association for Information Science (CAIS) 2017 annual conference. She is looking forward to bringing her teaching experience from Women’s and Gender Studies to the SLIS program.

Please join SLIS faculty and staff in welcoming our new faculty member.

Dr. Mike Smit Appointed Acting Associate Dean (Research)

Official announcement from Dr. Sylvain Charlebois (Dean, Faculty of Management):

Dominika Wranik will be on administrative leave for one year, starting July 1, 2017. During her time as Associate Dean (Research), she has pioneered many of our new research initiatives and has allowed our achievements in research to be shared and celebrated. Her leave is certainly well deserved.

In her absence, I am pleased to report that Mike Smit will be stepping in as (Acting) ADR for a full year, starting July 1, 2017. Mike will be a great addition to the Dean’s Office. Mike is likely one of the most well-known Dalhousie academic researchers in the area of cloud-data, IT, and open data. As an associate professor in the School of Information Management, he is involved with the newly established Ocean Frontier Institute. He completed his PhD at the University of Alberta, was a postdoctoral fellow at York University, and holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Dalhousie University.

Congrats Mike!