91´«Ã½

CHICAGO -- The 91´«Ã½’s Office for Diversity has announced the recipients of the Diversity Research Grants for 2011.

The grants consist of a one-time $2,000 award for original research and a $500 travel grant to attend and present at the 2012 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference. Recipients are expected to conduct their research over the course of the year and compile the results into a program for the 2012 91´«Ã½ Annual Conference in Anaheim, Calif.

The first grant will be awarded to Dr. Clara M. Chu, chair and professor at the Department of Library and Information Studies, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and Trae Middlebrooks, Leatha Miles-Edmonson and Ashanti White, Master’s graduates and ACE Scholars at the Department of Library and Information Studies, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, for the project, “Information Needs and Barriers of Southeast Asian Refugee Undergraduates.” Through survey and focus groups, the project seeks to discover the information needs and access barriers of Burmese, Cambodian, Laotian and Vietnamese undergraduate students.

The second grant will be awarded to Dr. Daniella Smith, assistant professor, Department of Library and Information Sciences, College of Information, at the University of North Texas for her project, “Diversity in Technology Integration Leadership.” This project seeks to document the leadership potential of school librarians, often catalysts for technology integration in schools, and the impact of diversity (age, gender and ethnicity) on the effectiveness of technology integration in the state of Texas.

The final grant will be awarded to Jian-zhong “Joe” Zhou, head of reference, California State University—Sacramento Library, for his project, “Achievement Gap of Asian American Professional Librarians at the Top of Career Ladders.” The project will focus on the representation of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) at the chief executive level of libraries as compared to other ethnic groups and provide insight into the career advanacement opportunities among different minority groups.

91´«Ã½’s Office for Diversity offers thanks to the jurors of the 2011 Diversity Research Grants: Veronica L.C. Stevenson-Moudamane (chair), Ismail Abdullahi, Karen Cook, Nicole Cooke, Roberto C. Delgadillo, Paul T. Jaeger, Cheryl Knott Malone, and Patty Wong; and to the Diversity Research Grants Advisory Committee for their work in planning the 2011 Diversity Research Grants: Veronica L.C. Stevenson-Moudamane (chair), Aimee Babcock-Ellis, Vickie E. Beene, Dr. Stanton F. Biddle, Eileen K. Bosch, Robert J. Bremer, Elizabeth Jean Brumfield, Nicole Lea Busch, Denyvetta Davis, Kim L. Eccles, Michael Gutierrez, Joyce E. Jelks, Raymond P. Schwartz, Susan Elizabeth Shepley, Kathryn Sigler and R. Niccole Westbrook.

For more information on the Diversity Research Grants, please visit the Office for Diversity’s website: .