UIC dean of libraries to serve on Association of Research Libraries board
UIC University Librarian and Dean of Libraries Rhea Ballard-Thrower has been elected to the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) 2023 Board of Directors for a three-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2023. Three additional new members representing distinguished academic libraries join Ballard-Thrower on the board. The election took place during the ARL’s Association Fall meeting in October.
“I am pleased to be elected to the ARL Board of Directors and to be able to continue the diversity, equity and inclusion work I have championed as chair of the association's committee. I am excited to have the opportunity to contribute to additional ARL priorities including academic freedom, privacy and civil and human rights,” said Dean Ballard-Thrower.
The Board of Directors is responsible for representing ARL member libraries’ interests in establishing operating policies, budgets and fiscal oversight. The board also modifies the ARL mission and objectives as needed and represents the association to community.
About UIC University Librarian and Dean of Libraries Rhea Ballard-Thrower
At UIC, Dean Ballard-Thrower holds the rank of professor in the University Library and an affiliate faculty position at the UIC School of Law, where she teaches advanced legal research using the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program pedagogy. The program gives law students and incarcerated students the opportunity to take a course together at a correctional facility.
Ballard-Thrower holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati, a Master of Information and Library Studies from the University of Michigan and a Juris Doctor from the University of Kentucky College of Law.
About the Association of Research Libraries
The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) is a nonprofit organization of research libraries in Canada and the US whose vision is to create a trusted, equitable, and inclusive research and learning ecosystem and prepare library leaders to advance this work in strategic partnership with member libraries and other organizations worldwide. ARL’s mission is to empower and advocate for research libraries and archives to shape, influence and implement institutional, national and international policy. ARL develops the next generation of leaders and enables strategic cooperation among partner institutions to benefit scholarship and society.