Kara Malenfant Editor

Karen Brown is a professor at Dominican University (River Forest, Illinois) in the School of Information Studies and teaches in the areas of assessment, collection management, foundations of the profession, and literacy and learning. Prior to joining Dominican University’s faculty in 2000, she developed and coordinated continuing education programs for the Chicago Library System, one of Illinois’s former regional library systems. She has also held positions focusing on collection development, reference, and instruction at the University of Wisconsin, the University of Maryland, Columbia University, and Bard College. She holds a PhD in media ecology from New York University and master’s degrees in library science and adult education from the University of Wisconsin.

Debra Gilchrist is Vice President for Learning and Student Success at Pierce College, Lakewood, Washington. In addition to academic and student affairs, Gilchrist leads efforts focused on accreditation and achieving institutional outcomes. Her scholarship focuses on outcomes assessment as a tool for change; demonstrating the contributions of academic libraries through assessment of both learning and program impact and quality. She is an inaugural member of the ACRL Immersion Program and in 2007 was honored with the Miriam Dudley Award, which recognizes an individual who has made a significant contribution to the advancement of instruction in a college or research library environment. Gilchrist earned her MLS from the University of Denver and her PhD in Higher Education Leadership from Oregon State University. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the leadership role of academic librarians to influence instructional change.

Sara Goek is a Mellon/ACLS Public Fellow at ACRL where she serves as Program Manager contributing to efforts to improve research about academic library contributions to student learning and success. A historian by trade, prior to joining ACRL Sara worked as research faculty at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy and as a lecturer, tutor, and post-doctoral researcher at University College Cork (UCC), Ireland. She holds a PhD in History/Digital Arts & Humanities and an MA in Historical Research from UCC, and a BA in History and Irish Studies from Boston College.

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe is the Coordinator for Information Literacy Services and Instruction and an associate professor for library administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. She has master’s degrees in educational psychology and library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign as well as a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota.

Kara Malenfant is a senior staff member at the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL, a division of the American Library Association), where she coordinates government relations advocacy and scholarly communication activities and is the lead staff member on the Value of Academic Libraries initiative and Assessment in Action program. She provides consulting services on organization development and use of ACRL’s standards for libraries in higher education. Kara began her position at ACRL in fall of 2005 after working for six years at DePaul University Libraries in Chicago. A former Peace Corps volunteer, she holds a PhD in leadership and change from Antioch University and a master’s degree in library science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Chase Ollis is ACRL’s Program Officer for Professional Development. He manages ACRL’s RoadShow program, awards program, and Conference scholarship program, and handles logistics and marketing for ACRL’s professional development program. Prior to joining ACRL, he worked as a circulation supervisor at Northwestern University’s Pritzker Legal Research Center. Chase holds an MS in library and information science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a BA in both English and Communication Studies from Furman University.

Allison Payne is ACRL’s Program Officer for Governance. She coordinates activities of the association’s Board of Directors and Budget & Finance Committee, prepares and maintains the ACRL budget, and manages division-level appointments. Prior to joining ACRL, Allison has been a library assistant at Kraft Foods Global Research & Development, worked at the University of Iowa Libraries’ Preservation Department, and tutored incarcerated youth in Chicago. She holds an MLIS from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a BA in English with a minor in Psychology from the University of Iowa.