Spring 2026 Awards & Recognitions
The University of Tennessee Libraries celebrates the accomplishments and honors UT Libraries staff, faculty, and student assistants have achieved.
Maggie Albro has earned the Systematic Review Services Specialization, Level I, from the Medical Library Association.
Dameon Binion was the recipient of an impromptu award from a student, an Atlanta Braves hat and a note commending Binion's incredibly kind attitude, generosity, and commitment to the Libraries — all sentiments the Pendergrass team echoes and believes deserving of celebration!
Alex Boris received the Frances Neel Cheney Award from the Tennessee Library Association. The award recognizes “a significant contribution to the world of books and librarianship through the encouragement of the love of books and reading.”
Olivia Chin was elected to serve as a Member-At-Large on the University Libraries Section Executive Committee of the Association of College and Research Libraries.
Melanie Dixson was selected to serve on the Medical Library Association’s Scholarship Jury for the 2025–2026 term. The jury reviews and evaluates applications for several MLA scholarships.
Meredith Hale was appointed to a three-year term on the Rare Books and Manuscripts Editorial Board of the Association of College and Research Libraries.
Scarlett McConville, a graduate student library assistant in Community Learning and Engagement, was selected to be a Student Champion for UT’s upcoming It Takes a Volunteer Campaign.
Alesha Shumar was inducted into the 2026 Class of the Educators Hall of Honor, a program of the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences Office of Advancement.
Howdy! The Minnie Pearl Story by Mary Ellen Pethel and Don Cusic, a 2025 release from the University of Tennessee Press, was named the Tennessee History Book Award winner of the year. Another UT Press title, Tennessee Samplers: Female Education and Domestic Arts, 1800-1900 by Jennifer Core and Janet S. Hasson, was also a finalist for the award. The Tennessee History Book Award is presented by the Tennessee Historical Society and the Tennessee Historical Commission.
The UT Press title Howdy! The Minnie Pearl Story also received the 2026 Belmont University Curb Music Industry Award for Country Music Book of the Year.
Two UT Press titles received awards for Publication Excellence from the East Tennessee Historical Society. Tennessee Samplers: Female Education and Domestic Arts, 1800-1900 by Jennifer Core and Janet S. Hasson, and The Greatest Calamity: Tennessee in the Civil War Era by John D. Fowler. The East Tennessee Historical Society’s annual Awards of Excellence recognize individuals and organizations for significant contributions to the preservation, promotion, and interpretation of the region’s history.
Publications & Presentations
Alex Boris was a panelist on the topic “How Do YOU Reference? The Evolving Face of Reference Service in Academic Libraries” at the 2026 Tennessee Library Association Conference. Boris and Rebekah Moses presented “Bridging Programs to the Library: Building a Community of Readers” at the 2026 Tennessee Library Association Conference.
Lara Canner, Olivia Kelley, and Bokeuim Yeom presented their research poster, "Promoting a Culture of Collegiality at the University of Tennessee Knoxville Libraries: A Research Study to Improve Workplace Culture,” at the inaugural EMBRACE (Enacting Methodologies that Bridge Reflection and Assessment to Center Excellence) Symposium.
Olivia Chin gave a presentation at the 2026 Library Research Forum hosted by Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, entitled "How do academic librarians respond to the environmental impacts of generative AI?" Chin and Luke McDonald presented a paper at the 2026 All Things Open Conference: "Make it make cents: Creating a rubric to evaluate potential read-and-publish agreements."
Meredith Hale’s article, “Using OpenRefine to Encode Edgeworth’s Correspondence and Entity Indices” appeared in the Journal of the Text Encoding Initiative, Issue 19, 2025. Her resource review, “What Makes this Repository Different? Its Values,” also appeared in Katina Reviews, January 30, 2026.
Thura Mack, Angelica Nepomuceno, and Scarlett McConville gave a presentation at the 2026 Tennessee Library Association Conference entitled “Hiding in Plain Sight: Experiential Learning for K-12.”