Upcoming Events
The 14th Annual Mortenson Distinguished lecture will be Tuesday, October 26, at 4:00 pm, in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Room 126. A reception will follow.
Librarians from the University of Toronto will visit the University of Illinois Library September 20-22. Watch for further details on the topical meetings which will take place on Tuesday, September 21.
Mortenson Distinguished Lecture
The 14th Annual Mortenson Distinguished lecture will be Tuesday, October 26, at 4:00 pm, in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, Room 126. A reception will follow.
The Distinguished Lecturer is Pancras J. M. Ssebuwufu. He was chief academic and administrative officer of Makerere University, the premier institution of higher education in Uganda and a traditional leader of higher education in East Africa. Throughout the tumultuous years of the Amin and Obote regimes, Ssebuwufu defended the high standards in science and technology he has espoused throughout his academic career.
A native of Kampala, Uganda, Ssebuwufu earned his bachelor of science degree from Makerere University and his doctoral degree at Queen’s University in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He worked as a postdoctoral research fellow in physical chemistry in Ireland before returning to Makerere as a lecturer in chemistry in 1979. He was named senior lecturer and department chair in 1985. As department chair, he initiated, reformed and designed new curricula in pure chemistry, industrial chemistry and chemical engineering. He was the vice chancellor from 1993 to 2004.
Ssebuwufu chaired the Uganda Management Institute and the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology and was director of the National Agricultural Research Organization. In 1996, he was named Administrator of the Year by the major daily newspaper, The New Vision. He has authored or co-authored some 20 scholarly articles and papers and has served as a consultant to the Ugandan government and several private firms on a wide variety of chemistry-related issues.
Fall 2004 Mortenson Associates
Seventeen librarians from six countries are expected at the Mortenson Center for the fall Associates program from September 7 until November 5. Seven South African librarians are being funded by the Mellon Association in the third phase of a grant with the Library and Information Association of South Africa. As in previous years, five Colombian librarians will be funded by the Banco de la Republica in Bogota. Two Vietnamese librarians are being funded by a grant that Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand has received. For a second year, an academic librarian from Japan is being sponsored by the Japan Association of Private University Libraries. The academic librarians from Kenya and Uganda are being funded by their universities and from a small endowment established by a donor of the Mortenson Center.
This year, we did not issue a call for volunteers for Mortenson friends since most of the Associates had special requests based on their interests. We again want to thank all of you who have served in this role in the past as well as those who will befriend the Mortenson Associates this year. Also, please let us know if there are any activities or programs you would suggest the Associates participate in while they are with us.
Mortenson Associates and their friends for fall 2004 are:
- Raphael Aregu, an academic librarian from Uganda, and Al Kagan
- Adriana Maria Betancur, a public librarian from Colombia, and Lynne and Tom Rudasill
- Therese Els, a public librarian from South Africa, and Fred Schlipf from the Urbana Free Library
- Johon Javer Garibello Loaiza, a public librarian from Colombia, and David Griffiths\
- Alvina Matthee, a medical librarian from South Africa, and Katie Clark
- Rirhandzu Sharon Mhinga, a university librarian from South Africa, and Anna Maria Watkin from Parkland College Library
- Paul Mwanzilo, a university librarian from Kenya, and Michael Norman
- Mariam Natalwalla, a public librarian from South Africa, and Diane Schmidt
- Hanh Thi Nguyen, a researcher from Vietnam, and Karen Wei
- Gloria Maria Parra Mora, a university librarian from Colombia, and Nelly Gonzalez
- Nomabhaso Ramugondo, a school librarian from South Africa, and Frances Harris
- Gonzalo Rincon Gomez, a public librarian from Colombia, and Paula Carns
- Gladys Rodriguez Guzman, a public librarian from Colombia, and Cindy Ingold
- Ingrid Thomson, a university librarian from South Africa, and Joyce Wright
- Takanori Umezawa, a university librarian from Japan, and Setsuko Noguchi
- Ronelle Van Vollenhoven, a public librarian from South Africa, and Janice Harrington from Champaign Public Library
- Nga Vu Duong Thuy, a library educator from Vietnam, and Dale Silver from GSLIS.
Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) Grant
The Illinois State Library, in partnership with the Mortenson Center, has received a grant of $500,000 to develop, test, and implement a library leadership program to promote greater understanding and appreciation of the world community in which librarians work. The project will bring together librarians who have participated in the Illinois State Library’s Synergy program and a group of librarians from among the 76 countries with which the Mortenson Center works. We will work together in a two-year leadership training program and, in a second phase, extend the training program to a group of mid-career librarians from Mexico, who will interact with U.S. librarians from Nebraska and Arizona as well as from Illinois.
Fall Outreach Activities
Two programs will be presented by Mortenson Associates and staff at the Illinois Library Association Conference in Chicago on September 30. The programs are: “Bringing the World to Illinois and Sharing Illinois with the World” and “Library Advocacy in South Africa”.
From November 5-15, Barbara will travel to Tbilisi, Georgia, with a number of other librarians and library educators to work with a university there on the possibility of opening a graduate library school.
On November 18-19, Susan and Barbara will attend the IMLS workshop on outcome-based planning and evaluation in Washington, D.C.
Please let us know if you would like more information about Mortenson Center activities. Visit us at www.library.uiuc.edu/mortenson or contact us by e-mail to Barbara J. Ford at bjford@uiuc.edu and Susan Schnuer at schnuer@uiuc.edu.