UIC dean of libraries to serve on Association of Research Libraries board

UIC University Librarian and Dean of Libraries Rhea Ballard-Thrower has been elected to the Association of Research Libraries 2023 Board of Directors for a three-year term beginning Jan. 1, 2023. Three additional new members representing distinguished academic libraries join Ballard-Thrower on the board. The election took place during the ARL’s Association fall meeting in October.

“I am pleased to be elected to the ARL Board of Directors and to be able to continue the diversity, equity and inclusion work I have championed as chair of the association’s committee,” Ballard-Thrower said. “I am excited to have the opportunity to contribute to additional ARL priorities including academic freedom, privacy and civil and human rights.”

The Board of Directors is responsible for representing ARL member libraries’ interests in establishing operating policies, budgets and fiscal oversight. The board also modifies the ARL mission and objectives as needed and represents the association to community.

At UIC, Dean Ballard-Thrower holds the rank of professor in the University Library and an affiliate faculty position at the UIC School of Law, where she teaches advanced legal research using the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program pedagogy. The program gives law students and incarcerated students the opportunity to take a course together at a correctional facility.

Ballard-Thrower holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Cincinnati, a master’s in information and library studies from the University of Michigan and a JD from the University of Kentucky College of Law.

The Association of Research Libraries is a nonprofit organization of research libraries in Canada and the U.S. whose vision is to create a trusted, equitable and inclusive research and learning ecosystem and prepare library leaders to advance this work in strategic partnership with member libraries and other organizations worldwide.

Read the full ARL announcement.