For immediate release | June 23, 2010

ProQuest Establishes Ron Clowney Spectrum Scholarship

91´«Ã½

CHICAGO—ProQuest, a long-time supporter of the Spectrum Scholarship Program, has announced the establishment of a Spectrum Scholarship to honor the life of Ron Clowney. Clowney, vice president of US Higher Education & Government Sales at ProQuest, passed away in May 2010. His colleagues have chosen to honor his life by creating this new scholarship within the Spectrum Program. The first Ron Clowney Spectrum Scholarship was awarded in June 2010 to Felipe Alberto Castillo, University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign. For a complete list of the 2010 Spectrum Scholars please visit the press release.

Clowney joined ProQuest in 1983 and over the course of his career became an active supporter of libraries and information professionals. Clowney supported the activities of 91´«Ã½ and the scholarships that helped individuals further their careers.
Simon Beale, senior vice president of Global Sales at ProQuest, said of Ron and the establishment of this scholarship, “Ron believed in the future of libraries and their ability to evolve and address changing needs, especially in the hands of talented professionals. The Spectrum Scholarship engages exactly the kind of talent that Ron loved to see enter and energize our community. I know our dear colleague would be very proud to know that his memory is being honored in this way.”
ProQuest is the major sponsor of the annual 91´«Ã½/ProQuest Scholarship Bash. Established in 2000, the annual event has raised more than $500,000 for 91´«Ã½’s scholarships, including the Spectrum Scholarship Program, which supports diversity in the library profession. ProQuest is a charter supporter of the event. In addition to raising much-needed funds for the scholarships, the event provides a fun evening for librarians each year at the 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference. This year’s Scholarship Bash took place from 7-11 p.m. on Saturday, June 26, at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.
ProQuest creates specialized information resources and technologies that propel successful research, discovery and lifelong learning. A global leader in serving libraries of all types, ProQuest is an information partner, creating indispensable research solutions that connect people and information. Through innovative, user-centered discovery technology, ProQuest offers billions of pages of global content that includes historical newspapers, dissertations and uniquely relevant resources for researchers of any age and sophistication—including content not likely to be digitized by others. Inspired by its customers and their end users, ProQuest is working toward a future that blends information accessibility with community to further enhance learning and encourage lifelong enrichment. For more information, visit
The Spectrum Scholarship Program is 91´«Ã½'s national diversity and recruitment effort designed to address the specific issue of underrepresentation of critically needed ethnic librarians within the profession while serving as a model for ways to bring attention to larger diversity issues in the future. Since its founding, Spectrum has provided more than 680 scholarships to qualified applicants enrolled in an 91´«Ã½-accredited graduate program in library and information studies or an 91´«Ã½-recognized NCATE School Library Media program. To learn more about the Spectrum Scholarship Program, visit .

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Rubina Isaac