Candidate for Director of External Relations

Mega Subramaniam
Associate Professor
University of Maryland

Candidate's Statement:
It is an honor to run for the Director of External Relations for ALISE. I began attending ALISE conferences in 2003 as a doctoral student. Over the years of my membership, I have served on various ALISE committees and special interest groups. ALISE is where I found my mentors, including many of the “legends” in the library and information science field—scholars I knew only through their publications. Building relationships and collaborations is one of the core reasons why educators and scholars often join and participate in such professional organizations, which I have done through ALISE and benefited greatly from. I am who I am now because of these relationships and collaborations that ALISE helped me build. I am excited for the opportunity to give back to this community that has helped me grow. My experiences in recent years (see my complete CV) in managing long-term research in service of practice projects with collaborators from various disciplines, co-chairing conference and tracks within conferences, and working with related organizations such as iSchools.org, ASIS&T, and ALA have positioned me well to take on the responsibilities associated with being the Director of External Relations.

If elected as the Director of External Relations, my primary goal will be to promote cross-fertilization of ideas and viewpoints between related organizations that will embrace and enhance the interdisciplinary nature of our field and stimulate innovations in research and teaching. This will directly contribute to Strategic Direction 1 and 2 in the ALISE Strategic Plan 2017-2020. My secondary goal is to broadcast the research and teaching accomplishments of ALISE scholars and educators within the community and also to researchers and educators outside of ALISE through connections to our related disciplines, and other national and international associations.

It is a privilege to run for the position of Director of External Relations, and I appreciate the opportunity to serve the association in this capacity.

Biography:
Mega Subramaniam is an Associate Professor and the Co-Director of the Youth Experience (YX) Lab at the College of Information Studies (known as the iSchool) at the University of Maryland. She received her Ph.D in Information Studies from Florida State University and her master’s degree in Instructional Systems Technology from Indiana University, Bloomington. Dr. Subramaniam’s research focuses on enhancing the role of libraries in fostering the mastery of emerging digital literacies that are essential for STEM learning among underserved young people. Dr. Subramaniam is currently the lead PI for the IMLS-funded Improving Assessment of Computational Thinking in Libraries, and co-leads two other funded projects, ConnectedLib and Safe Data Safe Families - all intended to bring research and practice together to enhance the pedagogical skills of in-service and pre-service youth librarians. She also recently served as the Fellow and Chair of the Task Force for the Libraries Ready to Code initiative, spearheaded by the American Library Association. Her research has resulted in several best paper awards at conferences and several national recognitions, most recently including the Library Journal's Movers and Shakers award. Her work has been generously funded by various federal and private agencies, including the National Science Foundation, Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Library of Medicine, and Google. She served as a Board Member for Young Adults Library Services Association (YALSA) from 2016-2019 and served as co-editor of the School Library Research Journal from 2013-2019.

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