Candidate for Secretary/Treasurer

Denice Adkins
Associate Professor
University of Missouri
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Candidate’s Statement

I appreciate the opportunity to run for the position of ALISE Secretary/Treasurer. This allows me to give back to ALISE, the organization that provided me with an intellectual home and mentorship during my earlier career.

I first joined ALISE in 2000. My previous ALISE service includes co-chairing the Youth Services SIG, serving on the ALISE-UW Student Travel Award Committee, chairing and serving on the Pratt Severn Award Committee, participating on various other committees, and convening panels for the New Faculty and Multicultural, Humanistic, and Ethnic Concerns SIGs.

I have experience as President (2012-13) and member of the Executive Committee (2011-14) of REFORMA, another LIS association, and will be serving as a Member-at-Large of the ALA Council (2015-18). I have also served as the Program Coordinator for the LIS Program at the University of Missouri and am serving as a Co-PI on an IMLS grant to prepare public library leaders.

My combined experiences have given me a broad perspective on leadership, strategic planning, and the importance of budgets. I also understand the need to inrporate many different perspectives into decision-making. I hope to put these skills to use as the ALISE Secretary/Treasurer.

Biography

I am an Associate Professor at the University of Missouri School of Information Science & Learning Technologies (Missouri’s iSchool), past-president of REFORMA (The National Association for the Promotion of Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish-speaking), and a Fulbright Scholar to Honduras (2008). My primary research interests deal with Latino library services, diversity issues, and public library access. Prior to my appointment at the University of Missouri, I was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the State University of New York in Buffalo and a public librarian at Denver Public Library and Las Vegas Clark County Library District.