Current Students

Farraj AlFaseedi

Ceilyn Boyd

Ceilyn Boyd ’08LS is the Manager of the Harvard Library Research Data Management Program. This new program connects members of the Harvard community to services and resources spanning the research data lifecycle and helps to ensure that Harvard’s multi-disciplinary research data is findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). Boyd’s technical background includes the roles of analyst, research software engineer, and project manager at a variety of research and commercial organizations including SRI International, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mitsubishi Electric, and BBN Corporation. Their areas of focus involved artificial intelligence; scientific data analysis and visualization; and computer graphics.

Boyd’s work in academic libraries has involved management of large-scale strategic library programs and projects and research data management. Other library-related activities include taxonomy development; building sustainable data and visualization workflows; managing the large-scale digitization of manuscripts; and managing large, multi-library strategic projects and project portfolios. Boyd has a BA in Linguistics from Stanford University, an MA from Brandeis University in Anthropology and Women’s Studies, and in an MS LIS from Simmons University.

Jason Cerrato

Jason Cerrato is a recent Simmons University School of Library & Information Science graduate (MSLIS ’21), and current SLIS PhD student. His research interests include critical informatics and critical librarianship, with an eye towards investigating the production of structural bias and normativity within the historical practice of Western librarianship. He is currently a reference and instructional librarian at Weaver Library in East Providence, Rhode Island, where he works closely with patrons and community members to become confident and empowered technology users.

Prior to his studies at Simmons, Jason received a BA in Political Science and Philosophy from Fordham University in New York. He holds an MA in Political and Critical Theory from the New School for Social Research (NSSR) at the New School University—also in New York—where he researched the intersections of visual culture and collective memory. In addition, since 2010 he has taught Political Science and Sociology at Bronx Community College within the City University of New York (CUNY) system.

When he is not talking about libraries, Jason is experimenting with analog photography and thinking about what his cat is thinking about.

Deeth Ellis

Deeth Ellis has been the head librarian at the Harry V. Keefe ’39 Library at Boston Latin School since 2013. She received her B.A. in History at Bennington College in Vermont (1987), a M.L.S. at Simmons College (2006), and an administrative license from Boston University through The Education Cooperative (2012). She has served on the Massachusetts School Library Association executive board since 2017 representing the Boston area and as co-chair of advocacy.

Her research interest is to understand better how the structure of collaboration between city and state institutions contributes to the state of school libraries in Boston. Currently, the marginalization of school libraries at the state and city level has led to unequal access. Part of the research would be to examine current views on the roles of collaborators and develop a model for consistent improvement. Ultimately, linking learning in BPS school libraries to institutional collaborations could provide research on which a foundation can be built for improved decision making, clarity of roles, and eventually a more equitable student experience in schools.

Alyn Gamble

Alyn Gamble is practitioner-scholar with a background in science librarianship and academic publishing.Their research focuses on the impact of minority stress on the information-seeking behaviors of sexual and gender minority individuals in substance use recovery programs.

Jonathan Golden

Jonathan Golden ’17LS is the Systems Librarian at St. Mark’s School, a private, secondary school in Southboro, Massachusetts. Prior to that he was a library assistant at Concord Academy, and the digital repositories assistant at the Whittemore Library at Framingham State University, where he earned his B.A. While earning his MSLIS at Simmons SLIS, Golden concentrated mainly on information science, technology, and the philosophy of information. He was part of a team tasked with evaluating the usability of the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners website, and the team was invited to present their findings at “Service Design: The Holistic Experience,” a one-day conference held by the New England Association for Information Science & Technology at Simmons in January 2017.

Golden’s current research interests are in the areas of information evaluation, philosophy of information, doxa and epistemology, and the information lifecycle. He spends his summers teaching woodshop to young children at Concord Academy Summer Camp.

Zhan Hu

Originally from China, Zhan Hu has been a Boston resident for the past ten years. She graduated from UMass Boston with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Finance. After completing the graduate program in Economics in Tufts University, Zhan switched to the Library and Information Science field to pursue her interests in information/knowledge management research. She entered the Doctoral program in SLIS upon finishing the MLIS program in Simmons. The related experience includes a research assistantship in Massachusetts Export Center, a teaching assistantship in the department of Economics in Tufts University, and a library internship in Anna Maria College’s Mondor Eagen Library. Beginning in Fall 2016, Zhan started her work as the Teaching and Learning Technology Specialist in SLIS, assisting faculty and students with Moodle problems and other teaching and learning technology related issues. She is currently serving as the co-chair of UXPA @ Simmons, and the treasurer of the Doctoral Students Association (DSA) at SLIS, Simmons.

Zhan’s primary research interests is information ecology and ecological approach to investigate library and information science issues; through her research, she wants to study the feasibility of applying holistic ecological approach to a wider range of research questions in the LIS field, and explore information ecology theories and research methodologies for empirical justification of the research questions. Beginning in fall 2017, she reoriented her research activity to knowledge management in academic libraries as pilot studies for dissertation topics. In addition, Zhan is interested in economics of information, more specifically, how to utilize information economics theories more effectively for research and practice in the LIS field.

Alexia Hudson-Ward

Alexia Hudson-Ward is the Azariah Smith Root Director of Libraries for Oberlin College and Conservatory, one of the nation’s leading liberal arts academic library systems. Prior to assuming this role in July 2016, she was a tenured associate librarian at Penn State University Libraries based at the Abington College in Abington, PA. During her term at Penn State, Alexia was selected by senior administration as one of five university-wide Big 10 Academic Alliance faculty leadership fellows in 2014-2015.

Her librarianship philosophy rests upon the principles of accessibility, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her professional points of pride include providing leadership in leveraging library resources to enhance and foster new pedagogies, strategic planning and organizational design, and educational technology deployment.

Alexia holds an M.L.I.S. from the University of Pittsburgh, a B.A. degree in English Literature and African American Studies from Temple University, and is currently a Ph.D. student at Simmons University. She is the recipient of several awards and recognitions, including Library Journal‘s Mover and Shaker honor (2008), ALA Emerging Leader (2007), the Pennsylvania Library Association’s New Librarian of the Year (2007), and the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Information Sciences Young Alumni Award in 2013. Alexia was also honored to receive an invitation to participate in a live White House Twitter Town Hall Tweet Up with former President Barack Obama and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey in 2011.

Alexia has served on the Executive Board of the American Library Association and has held several leadership roles in non-profit organizations. Her hobbies include researching pre and early post-Civil War African American history, arguing with Twitter trolls and increasing her ever-growing shoe collection. Since moving to Northeast Ohio she has enjoyed her new past time: teasing Cleveland Browns fans.

Jie Jiang

Jie(Jae) Jiang, is a new doctorate student in the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons University. Jiang earned her MLIS from the University of Pittsburgh in 2018 with an individual track in Digital Stewardship. Her research interests include Research Data Management and Health Information Behaviors.

Chris Kaufmann

Chris Kaufmann is a PhD student and the current Dean’s Fellow for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Initiatives at Simmons University. She was most recently the Head of Technical Services and IT Librarian for a small library system, and has worked in public libraries for 9 years, advocating for collection and programming diversity and for increased information access for users with special needs. Some of her research work has included the state of library and information science in Cambodia, and methods of quantitatively and qualitatively evaluating knowledge management systems in public libraries. Prior to her library career, she was a legal researcher primarily specializing in intellectual property litigation. Chris holds an MLIS in Information Science & Technology from Simmons University and a BA in French & History from the University of Richmond.

Yolanda Keahey

Yolanda Keahey is a new doctoral student at Simmons University. She has worked in a public library for eight years. Her current position is a Librarian in the special collection department. She received a B.S. in Economics and a Master of Business Administration from St. Peter’s College and earned a Master in Library and Information Science from Pratt Institute.

Kevin Kidd

Kevin Kidd is currently the Director of the Library at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Massachusetts. He has worked for more than 25 years in academic and research libraries and holds a Master of Arts degree in Irish Literature from Boston College and a Master of Science degree in Library and Information Science from Syracuse University. Kevin has a holistic understanding of academic library operations at all levels and deep experience in library administration, space planning, technology, and software development. Prior to his appointment as Director of the Library at Wentworth, Kevin was Head of Technology for the Boston College University Libraries, where he led numerous software development and implementation projects, including the development of new library services platforms, federated search engines, digital asset management applications, and reference linking services. At Wentworth Institute of Technology, Kevin collaborated with Institutional Advancement to raise more than $8 million to renovate the outdated Alumni Library. He led the programming and design efforts for the renovation and raised an additional $350,000 for a library makerspace and an outdoor library study terrace. In addition to academic library work, Kevin spent a year at the European University Institute, in Florence, Italy, on a Research Fellowship, studying Electronic Resources and Services in Italian Libraries. He is the Vice President of the Board of Directors of the Ames Free Library in Easton, Massachusetts and is the Past President of the Fenway Library Organization. Kevin’s research interests are inspired by a career that has tracked with the growth of the world wide web and related information and communication technologies. The ongoing, exponential proliferation of networked information has caused deep changes in libraries and librarianship over the past 30 years. More fundamentally – and in some ways more alarmingly – those same technologies continue to change the world rapidly and profoundly, at a frantic pace. The growth of these technologies has greatly outpaced our understanding of their nature and implications and has raised problems that are global and increasingly complex.

Abigail Lance

Abby Lance is currently a PhD student and the Dean’s Fellow for Information Analysis at Simmons University SLIS. Previously she managed the maker space at Buda Public Library in Buda, TX. She received her MLIS from University of Texas, Austin and her BS in Sociology from Northeastern University. She has a deep personal interest in bringing access to information to populations that are typically denied access, such as inmates. She primarily works with teens and is interested in the intersection of young adult books with social justice messaging and social justice actions taken by youth.

Cyndee Sturgis Landrum

Cyndee Sturgis Landrum has over 20 years of experience in the library and information science profession. She has worked in academic, medical and public libraries in Arizona, Illinois, Indiana and Pennsylvania. Cyndee is the CEO-Director of the Evansville Vanderburgh Library (EVPL) system in Indiana. As CEO, she is advancing a strategic direction that positions users as co-creators of library experiences, fosters internal experimentation and exploration, and cultivates community capital to support a vibrant and productive region. She is a member of the Public Library Association Equity Diversity and Inclusion Taskforce, Executive Board of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association and Co-Chair of 11th National Conference of African American Librarian to be held in Tulsa, OK in 2020.

Cyndee holds a B.A. in Linguistics from Northwestern University, an MLIS from University of Southern Mississippi and is a doctoral candidate in School of Library and Information Science at Simmons University where her research focuses on equity, diversity, inclusion, social justice and the lived leadership experiences of library leaders from underrepresented and underpowered groups. She has presented and published on these issues as well as in the areas of engagement, experience, inquiry and impact of libraries.

Kimberly Lavoie

Prior to studying at Simmons, Kimberly Lavoie worked as a high school librarian in both urban and suburban public school districts. She is certified as a school librarian and instructional technology specialist in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Her research interests include teacher-librarian collaboration in the digital age, e-learning platforms and school libraries, and information needs and behavior of young adults. Lavoie earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Boston College, a Master of Arts degree in History from Providence College, and a Master of Library and Information Science degree from Simmons.

David Leonard

David Leonard, leads the 170-year old Boston Public Library, one of the city’s great educational, cultural and civic treasures. Leonard began working at the BPL in 2009, bringing deep experience from the technology, management and consulting fields. Appointed president by the Library’s Board of Trustees and Mayor Martin J. Walsh in June 2016, Leonard’s focus is on developing the BPL as a twenty first century institution providing dynamic library experiences to the residents of Boston, of Massachusetts and beyond. Boston Public Library has a Central Library in Copley Square, twenty-five neighborhood branches, an archival center, and also serves as the ‘Library for the Commonwealth’ of Massachusetts. In his role, Leonard oversees a collection estimated to be more than 23 million books, maps, manuscripts, prints, and an expanding digital collection. Prior to his appointment as President, Leonard served as Interim President for one year. During that time, he focused on the completion of the $78 million renovation of the Central Library in Copley Square, which opened in July 2016, as well as a significant number of branch and collections management improvement projects, enhancing access and the customer experience; collaborating with city departments and with local cultural institutions; and supporting Mayor Walsh’s arts and culture vision.

Leonard’s background prior to BPL spans academia, the non-profit sector, and most recently ten years in the private IT consulting world in roles that included business development, management, and technology consulting. Leonard is currently enrolled in the PhD program in Library Information Science at Simmons University. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy and Mathematics and a Master’s Degree in Philosophy from the University College Dublin.

Jiebei Luo

Jiebei Luo is a PhD student in the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons University and currently works as a data services librarian at Boston College’s Thomas P. O’Neill Library, where she provides services and support related to research data acquisition, management, curation, and visualization. She holds an MLIS from Rutgers University and an MS in Analytics from Georgia Institute of Technology. Her research interests center on data literacy instruction, evidence-based statistical analysis, data visualization, scholarly communication, and library assessment.

Sujei Lugo

Sujei Lugo, a former elementary school librarian in Puerto Rico, is a children’s librarian at the Boston Public Library, Connolly Branch. She holds an MLIS from the University of Puerto Rico and is currently a doctoral candidate in LIS at Simmons University, focusing on anti-racism and children’s librarianship. She is an active member of REFORMA, ALA and ALSC. A member of the We’re the People Summer Reading Project and Latinxs in Kid Lit blog.

Zachary Newell

Zach Newell has worked in varied roles in libraries as both educator and administrator. He is writing his dissertation on creativity and information literacy. As part of his passion for shaping the future of the library, Zach continues to examine and reimagine the relationship the campus community has to the library and its space, and continues to cultivate the potential for cross-disciplinary collaboration in an effort to facilitate the library as a hub for transformative learning. As part of an ongoing interest in internationalization and student success, Zach also continues to work closely with colleagues to explore informational constructs and creative/artistic practice in a global context. Zach was previously a Fulbright Scholar at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Alexandria, Egypt during the so-called Arab Spring. Zach holds a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in Art History and an M.S. in Library Science.

Sean Noel

Originally from Maine, Sean Noel has lived and worked in Boston for over twenty-five years. In 1994 he received his BA in English Literature from Boston University (BU), Phi Beta Kappa, followed by two years in Aomori, Japan teaching English and studying Kendo. After returning to Boston, he completed a Master of Liberal Arts degree concentrating in Twentieth Century Narratives in 2002 from BU. Noel has spent 20 years at Boston University’s Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center in several positions focusing on public service, and is now Associate Director. He lives in Waltham with his wife and daughter.

Noel was a co-author and an investigator on a series of grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation on the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Archival Collaborative (2007 – 2010). He was co-author and an investigator on a current grant from the NEH called “Expanding Common Ground – The Electronic Cataloguing Project for the Howard Thurman and Sue Bailey Thurman Collections at Boston University” (2012 – 2014), and co-author and investigator for a major grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, Inc. (2014 – 2015) to create an online finding aid for the Elie Wiesel archive at BU. He was the 2015 recipient of the Thomas J. Galvin ’56LS Endowed Scholarship at Simmons University.

Noel’s research interests include practice and theory of teaching with archival material in the undergraduate humanities curriculum; innovations in the creation of online inventories; and best practices for digitizing and accessing archival material online.

Emily Remer

Emily Remer received her MLIS from Kent State University in 2001 and is currently a middle school librarian. She created and developed the library program for her school, and led the district libraries through a collection and resource improvement phase. Prior to her certification and work as a school librarian, she was a public librarian in children’s, YA, and reference departments. During her time in public libraries, she also acted as a library liaison for the local Brazilian immigrant community, using her language skills and experience living in Brazil to build and enhance Portuguese-language collections and services.

Emily has mentored multiple school librarians, consulted for public libraries on collections and services for young adults and for Portuguese-speaking patrons, and worked as a selector for the Commonwealth eBook Collections. She has written articles for the Massachusetts School Library Association and for WebJunction, and kept an award-winning library blog. She loves libraries and the selection, accumulation, and distribution of information; her research interests are many and varied. She lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband, dog, cat, and chickens. She keeps fruit trees and berry bushes and volunteers on a farm in the summer.

Jae Jennifer Rossman

Jae Jennifer Rossman ’00LS is the Director, Department of Area Studies & Humanities Research Support at the Yale University Library. She oversees a team of subject specialists, who provide services in collection development, reference, instruction, and outreach to multiple academic departments. Previously she was the Associate Director for Special Collections & Public Programs of the Robert B. Haas Family Arts Library at Yale where she oversaw collection development, exhibitions, education, and outreach. Additionally, she revitalized The Bibliographical Press in Sterling Memorial Library, founded by Yale University Printer Carl Rollins in 1927. Her research explores special collections in the academic library, including its origins and perceived value.

Watinee Sae-Lim

Watinee Sae-Lim is a current PhD student with research interests cover several topics all related to data. For her independent study, she researched data science programs in U.S. higher education, focusing on analytical skills, domain knowledge, and curriculum structure. The results of the study lead to shift her focus to people who work with research data, as all outputs arise from research. Academic research universities in the U.S. are her main interest.

Sae-Lim has co-written two articles with Associate Professor Rong Tang. “Data science programs in U.S. higher education: An exploratory content analysis of program description, curriculum structure, and course focus,” was published in Education for Information in 2016. “Data Science Programs in U.S. Higher Education: An Interview with the Authors,” published in Journal of eScience Librarianship in 2017.

Anna Sarneso

Anna Sarneso is a PhD student in the School of Library and Information Science at Simmons University. Anna earned her MLIS from Simmons in 2013, an MA in English Literature from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada in 2010, and a BA from Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, PA in 2008. Anna’s research interests include Open Educational Resources and information literacy. She is the Library Director at Lasell College in Newton, MA.

Matthew Sullivan

Like many library professionals before him, Matthew Sullivan moved into the library during grad school and never left. Beginning his academic career narrowly in biblical studies (B.A., Gardner-Webb University), he expanded his interests geographically and linguistically over the course of two graduate programs, first at Oxford University (M.St.) and then at Harvard Divinity School (M.T.S), where he began working in libraries. After graduating, Sullivan continued to work or volunteer in libraries or historical societies, while working as a copy-editor for academic presses. But mainly he haunted coffee shops and used bookstores, learning languages and discovering the world of ideas outside religion in the ancient Mediterranean. In 2010, he enrolled in the M.S. program at Simmons, where he pursued a general course of study. His current research is gravitating toward mis- and disinformation, particularly in the context of U.S. politics, and the role that information plays (or is thought to play) in political decision-making and democratic participation. Since 2013, Sullivan has worked at Harvard, where he is currently the Librarian for Collection Development and Planning, Widener Library.

Jennifer Sunoo

Jennifer Sunoo ’21LS is a PhD student in the Library and Information Science program at Simmons University. She has a MLIS in Library and Information Science with an Information Science and Technology concentration from Simmons University, and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Smith College. Her current research interests are Human Information Behavior (with a focus on Information Encountering/Serendipity), Personal Productivity, and Data.

She served as co-chair of the Simmons University Student Chapter of the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) from fall 2020 – summer 2022.  Jennifer was awarded the Outstanding Information Science Student Award by Simmons University’s School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) in 2021, was selected for the ASIS&T New Leaders Program in 2021, and was inducted as a member of Beta Phi Mu, the International Honor Society for Library and Information Studies in 2022.  She is also currently an Executive Board member and Programming Committee member for the Northeast U.S. Chapter of ASIS&T (NEASIS&T), and a committee member for the ASIS&T Professional Development Committee.

Jennifer is a data management professional with expertise in budget, compliance, data analysis/reporting, and database administration. Additionally, she has extensive experience in hiring and onboarding faculty in higher education (including managing faculty searches), operations management (in corporate philanthropy, educational fundraising, and higher education academic administration), and project management. She currently works at Boston Medical Center where her responsibilities include managing, reporting, and analyzing data, and managing and implementing projects for the Development Operations, and Foundation Relations and Government Grants Teams.

Dawn Thistle

Kate Wing

Although Kate Wing splits her time among an academic library, a public library, and a small business, she is a public librarian to the core. Her research interests center around intellectual freedom and access for all ages, and the way universal values of librarianship translate to the reality of running public libraries. In her professional work, she is acutely invested in maintaining patron privacy, breaking down barriers to access for patrons, and figuring out how to say yes. Kate works for the George J. Mitchell Department of Special Collections & Archives at Bowdoin College, and also for Curtis Memorial Library. She earned a bachelor’s degree from Bates College, a master’s degree in elementary education from Smith College, and an MLIS from the University of South Carolina. Her research interests include Access and Intellectual Freedom.

Wing owns West Wind Lobster Tours, a lobster harvesting education tour company. She lives with her husband, daughter, and dog a little north of Portland, ME.

Yishan Zhang

Yishan Zhang is a PhD student in the School of Library and Information Science, Simmons University. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Information Management and Information System and another Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Peking University. He also holds a master’s degree in Information Science from Peking University. Since 2013, Yishan has been working in the field of government information management. He has participated in several projects of open government data and data-sharing in Beijing. His research interests include open government data, data-sharing activities among different institutions, and the digital divide.