College & Research Libraries News vol. 85, no. 7 (July/August 2023)


C&RL News July/August 2023 264

David Free P e o p l e  i n  t h e  N e w s

Emily Hurst, deputy director and head of the Research and Educa-
tion Department at the Virginia Commonwealth University Health 
Sciences Library, received the Estelle Brodman Award for the Aca-
demic Health Sciences Librarian of the Year from the Medical Library 
Association (MLA). One of MLA’s most significant awards, the Brod-
man Award recognizes a mid-career academic health sciences librarian 
who demonstrates significant achievement, the potential for leader-
ship, and continuing excellence. 

Jennie Levine Knies, associate dean for Commonwealth Campus Libraries and head 
librarian for the Scranton Campus Library at Penn State-Scranton, has received the Distin-
guished Service Award from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Archives Conference (MARAC). 
MARAC is a nonprofit, volunteer-run association of archivists and cultural heritage profes-
sionals throughout the mid-Atlantic region whose work is centered on the administration, 
preservation, and use of archival records and related historical research materials.

Appointments
John Bence has been named university archivist at the University of 
Pennsylvania Libraries, effective August 1, 2023. In this role, Bence 
will oversee all operations of the University Archives and Records 
Center (UARC), including its outreach initiatives and fundraising 
program. As the chief administrator responsible for UARC’s program 
to collect, manage, preserve, and make accessible materials of opera-
tional and historical value, he will lead a team that serves the Penn 
community; scholars interested in the history of the university, in-
stitutions of higher learning in the United States, and American intellectual life; and the 
Philadelphia community.

Karen Bjork recently joined the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as head of 
digital libraries and publishing.

Chrystal Carpenter has joined the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as head 
of special collections and archives.

Carolann Curry is now outreach and data coordinator for the Network of the National 
Library of Medicine, Region 5, at the University of Washington Libraries. 

Loftan Hooker is now head of access services at the Virginia Commonwealth University 
Libraries.

Brianna McGruder has been appointed community-driven archives program manager 
at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Rolando Rodriguez is now humanities data librarian at the University of North Carolina-
Chapel Hill.



July/August 2023 265C&RL News 

Retirement
Larry Schwartz, assistant professor and chair of the library department at Minnesota State 
University-Moorhead, has retired after 23 years of service and 30 total years of being an 
academic librarian. Schwartz received his MSLS from Clarion University of Pennsylvania, 
now Pennsylvania Western University.

Deaths
William E. McGrath Jr., retired professor of library and information science at the State 
University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo, has died. Prior to joining SUNY-Buffalo, Mc-
Grath served as science librarian at the University of New Hampshire, director of libraries 
at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, and dean of libraries at the Univer-
sity of Massachusetts-Lowell, among other positions.

Patricia A. “Pat” Wand has died. From the beginning of her professional service, Wand 
shaped the future of ACRL, helping found the division’s Instruction Section in 1977 and 
chairing the Anthropology and Sociology Section from 1982 to 1983. Her leadership con-
tinued through the decades, including serving on the ACRL Board of Directors, as ACRL 
Councilor to ALA Council, as president of the ACRL Oregon Chapter, and as chair of 
the ACRL Budget and Finance and International Relations Committees. Her support of 
ACRL continues as she became an ALA Legacy Society Member by making a bequest to 
ACRL for continued international initiatives. 

Within ALA, Wand held numerous leadership positions, including chairing the Budget 
Analysis and Review Committee along with the Committee on Legislation, serving as an 
Endowment Trustee, and later the Senior Endowment Trustee, during which time the ALA 
endowment grew in value from $45.6 million to $64.3 million. She was additionally a 
member of many ALA committees and roundtables. A staunch advocate for libraries, Wand 
represented ALA and four other national library associations in testifying three times before 
US House Subcommittee on Legislative Appropriations to support budgets for the Library 
of Congress and the Superintendent of Documents.