UT School of Information

🚨 One hour left! 🚨 Your gift to the iSchool during 40 for Forty supports iSchool scholarships, student orgs, and career development. Thank you for helping shape the next generation of information professionals! 🔗https://give.utexas.edu/40-hours-for-the-forty-acres

✨ Every gift makes an impact. ✨ Your support helps empower our world‑changing iSchool students. Thank you to all who have already given—your generosity matters! ⏳ 40 Hours for the Forty Acres ends today. Give now: https://give.utexas.edu/40-hours-for-the-forty-acres

🎉 It’s 40 for Forty! 🎉 This year, the iSchool is raising funds to support our outstanding undergraduate and graduate students. Gifts to this campaign go directly toward scholarships, student organizations, and career development opportunities—helping our students thrive now and into the future. Support the next generation of information professionals by giving today: /schools/UniversityofTexasatAustin/40-hours-for-the-forty-acres/pages/colleges-schools-and-departments/school-of-information/?a=12234407 #ut40for40

📅 Save the Date! 40 Hours for the Forty Acres kicks off Wednesday, April 29 through Thursday, April 30. This year, the iSchool is raising funds to support our talented undergraduate and graduate students. Donations will go directly toward scholarships, student organizations, and career development opportunities. Don’t miss your chance to support the future of information science!

🎉 Celebrating iSchool excellence! 🎉 Huge congratulations to Ishwari Garge, iSchool MSIS student and finalist for UT Austin’s Student Employee of the Year! Selected from campus-wide nominees, Ishwari’s recognition highlights the impact she’s made at our school. 👏 While the top honor went to Sahithi Alla of University Housing and Dining, we’re proud to salute Ishwari’s outstanding contributions and achievement. 👉 Read full story here: https://lnkd.in/gazDi9nY

🎉 Congratulations iSchool professors Angela D. R. Smith, Earl Huff Jr. and Ying Ding for receiving 2026 Good Systems Seed Grants! 🎉 Good Systems: Ethical AI at UT Austin is one of the three campus-wide Bridging Barriers Research Grand Challenges. Good Systems recently held an internal seed-funding competition for interdisciplinary faculty teams at UT pursuing projects at the convergence of AI design, human values, and societal need. This year, out of six Good Systems seed grants announced, three feature principal investigators or co-PIs from the iSchool: professors Angela D.R. Smith, Earl Huff, Jr., and Ying Ding. Each seed grant provides up to $50,000 to support each project for one year and to help build toward further external funding. Dr. Ken Fleischmann, interim dean and chair designate of the iSchool, is the founding chair of Good Systems. He salutes all the winners, and especially his iSchool colleagues. “The iSchool has long focused on ethical AI and has been a key contributor since Good Systems launched in 2019, and I am delighted that three more outstanding colleagues’ research will be funded as a result of our seed grant program,” he says. “Huge congratulations to Angela, Earl, and Ying!” Read more about these outstanding faculty and their projects here: https://lnkd.in/giGpCMci

🌟 iSchool Alumni Spotlight 🌟 We’re excited to kick off a new series celebrating the incredible stories and accomplishments of our alumni! This week's feature highlights Madeline Moya, the City Archivist for the City of Portland. 💡 What Madeline loves about her current role: “ I love to see people using our historical records to advocate for their neighborhoods and communities. Researchers have recently used City records to press the Bureau of Transportation to improve traffic infrastructure in their neighborhood at a dangerous intersection, and our historical collections were also used as discovery materials last year by a group of Black Portlanders who successfully sued the City for displacing their families in the name of "urban renewal" in the 1960s. It's exciting to be able to work with records throughout their entire life cycle and understand how crucial records management processes are to ensuring public access to information." 🎓 How the iSchool prepared her: “The internships that I had during my time at the iSchool really rounded out my education. I worked at the Harry Ransom Center (under the supervision of iSchool alum Albert Palacios) which gave me opportunities in preservation, composing finding aids, digitization, and museum exhibition. I was a Purple Shirt TA in the IT Lab, which really expanded my technical knowledge and taught me how to write documentation, create tutorials, and train people on complex processes. I also got to work closely with the iSchool's stellar IT staff who taught me how to write code and build websites, a bonus education that propelled my career as I applied those skills to building online exhibits." 📘 Read more about Madeline’s iSchool journey: https://lnkd.in/gPX5a-Rj ✨ Are you an iSchool alum who’d like to be featured? Share your story here: https://lnkd.in/gQdryJyq

We are excited to see you this year at TLA 2026 in Houston! The iSchool will be hosting an alumni meet-up on Sunday, March 29th from 5:30pm-7:30pm at Grotto Downtown (1001 Avenida de las Americas Suite A). Come join us for connection and refreshments! RSVP here: /jfe/form/SV_e3WwU1x4Ojjl5k2

Last Friday Feb. 27th, the iSchool invited scholars and visitors into a hive of research energy, as doors opened on the annual Research Showcase event at the Texas Union on UT Campus. For those in attendance, three hours was scarcely enough time take in the dizzying depth and breadth of all the research projects on display. Still, a unifying narrative emerged: The iSchool’s researchers are forward-looking, collaborative, and focused not just on substantive findings but also on effective communication of what their work means and why it matters. The morning faculty research panel in the Quadrangle Room, “Computational Social Science and Critical Perspectives on Technology and AI,” moderated by Dr. Matthew Lease and featuring professors Hanlin Li, Angela D.R. Smith, and Nathan DeBlunthuis, set a tone of serious inquiry into emerging problems and topics. After the early panel, the Santa Rita Suite exhibition hall next door opened for poster presentations and demonstrations. Projects presented ran the gamut of the various specialties under the iSchool umbrella, including user experience and design, cybersecurity, library and archives, health informatics, and accessibility in technology. Several took on key hot-button issues of our day. To finish up the Showcase, the crowd headed back into the Quadrangle Room to hear from another trio of iSchool professors – Brian McInnis, Earl Huff, Jr. and Steven Slota – along with moderator Ying Ding, for the panel “Civic Discourse and AI for Access, Education, and Memory.” Once again, the rapid adoption of AI was a top concern for those onstage. Overall, the Showcase was an awesome success and a fantastic opportunity to bring together students, researchers, faculty, alumni, and friends alike from the iSchool and across campus. You can read more iSchool Research Showcase 2026 highlights here: https://lnkd.in/gdzKjwfy Huge thank you to everyone who made this such a successful event!

The 2026 iSchool Research Showcase is TOMORROW! 📅 Friday, February 27 🕣 8:30 AM – Noon 📍 Santa Rita Suite, Texas Union Building (3rd Floor) Join us for: 30+ demos and posters showcasing cutting‑edge work across the iSchool Two featured faculty-led panels diving into AI, society, civic discourse, access, and more: 🕤 9:30–10:15 AM Computational Social Science and Critical Perspectives on Technology and AI Panelists: Angela D. R. Smith • Hanlin Li • Nathan TeBlunthuis Moderator: Matt Lease 🕚 11:00–11:45 AM Civic Discourse and AI for Access, Education, and Memory Panelists: Earl Huff Jr. • Brian McInnis • Stephen Slota Moderator: Ying Ding 🔗 Full event details: https://lnkd.in/gfJ6tAKM ✔️ RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/geAjNEMU We can’t wait to see you there!

The 2026 iSchool Research Showcase is THIS Friday! 📅 Friday, February 27 🕣 8:30 AM – Noon 📍 Santa Rita Suite, Texas Union Building (3rd Floor) Join us for: 30+ demos and posters showcasing cutting‑edge work across the iSchool Two featured faculty-led panels diving into AI, society, civic discourse, access, and more: 🕤 9:30–10:15 AM Computational Social Science and Critical Perspectives on Technology and AI Panelists: Angela D. R. Smith • Hanlin Li • Nathan TeBlunthuis Moderator: Matt Lease 🕚 11:00–11:45 AM Civic Discourse and AI for Access, Education, and Memory Panelists: Earl Huff Jr. • Brian McInnis • Stephen Slota Moderator: Ying Ding 🔗 Full event details: https://lnkd.in/gfJ6tAKM ✔️ RSVP here: https://lnkd.in/geAjNEMU We can’t wait to see you there!

As of the Board of Regents vote yesterday, it is now official that the iSchool will be a founding department in the new School of Computing. The School of Computing, set to open Fall 2026, will be launched within the College of Natural Sciences, with other founding departments, the Department of Computer Science and the Department of Data and Statistics. The iSchool will maintain all our current academic credentials for students, and our research and education missions will continue. We leverage human-centered approaches from libraries to innovate in user experience design. We bring understanding of data provenance from archives to protect information integrity. The legacy of excellence of the iSchool that began in 1948 will continue. At the same time, there will be new opportunities for growth, expanded impact and access to resources made possible through the creation of the School of Computing. The iSchool remains grateful for all of the contributions from our coumminity that have made this exciting development possible. “Working with colleagues in computer science and in statistics and data sciences will deepen collaborations, bring opportunities to leverage resources and forge partnerships that connect the information field with complementary disciplines.” Says, Interim Dean and Chair Designate, Ken Fleischmann. “I hope all of you will join me in viewing the creation of the School of Computing as an opportunity for our community and join me in my excitement for the next chapter of a story that we will continue to create together.” Read Interim Dean Ken Fleischmann’s words on the upcoming move here: https://lnkd.in/gQHM8bAw