madslisdiversity

Farewell 2011/2012 School Year

Dawn and Mel want to wish everyone the best during their finals, summer and their job pursuits or next school year. We had a great time with socials, diversity discussion and the film series and we hope that you did as well! This blog will not be regularly updated after the end of Spring 2012 semester.

Check out our Spring 2012 Newsletter for upcoming events, scholarships and information on Project Assistantships for the next academic year.

UW-Madison’s  SLIS was given a grant in 2009 from LIS Access to Midwest Program (LAMP) which allowed for SLIS to develop diversity recruitment initiatives and sustain programming that supports students of color.

The 2011-2012 UW-Madison LAMP Project Assistants are here to serve current students the support they need to succeed during their studies at SLIS and beyond by providing resources on this blog, MadSLISdiversity, coordinating Librarians of Color Panels, potluck get-togethers, lectures and other events of interest that students wish to participate in at UW. We’re open to new ideas, so please let us know if you have any!

The 2011-2012 LAMP Project Assistants: Who We Are

Melissa Villa-Nicholas, MLIS Candidate 2012

Mel had spent most of her life in Southern California, before coming to Madison for school. She has worked in different non-profits focusing on affordable housing and foster children’s rights. She has a Masters in Cultural Studies and is currently attending the University of Wisconsin, Madison for her Masters in Library and Information Studies, with the intention of working in a public library. Mel also co-organizes the student group Reforma and participates in other activism around Madison.

During office hours Mel plans diversity programming for SLIS, Reforma events and research.

When she’s not working at the MERIT library, for her LAMP PA and doing classes, Mel can be found riding her bike around Madison.

Contact Mel at mjnicholas@wisc.edu

Dawn Wing, MLIS Candidate 2013

Dawn hails from the City of New York. She was born and raised in Queens. Before arriving to SLIS, Dawn was a NYC public school teacher for 4 years and taught English as a Second Language to students from all over the world.  Her fascination with different cultures, languages, and food has led her to travel and live in various countries like New Zealand and Japan.

Her interest in the relationship between information literacy development and self-empowerment led her to explore a career in library and information science. She hopes to work in a community college, academic or public library as an instructional/information literacy librarian. Dawn finds helping students/patrons to achieve life opportunities and learning from the experiences of others to be deeply fulfilling. Currently, she is involved with UW-Madison’s Tribal Libraries, Archives, and Museums (TLAM) student group and is the student representative of the SLIS Community Engagement committee.

Dawn’s interests include: zine making, cooking, bicycling and enjoying the beautiful views of Lake Monona!