Presenters
Presenters
David Brownlee
Frances Shapiro-Weitzenhoffer Professor of History of Art Emeritus
University of Pennsylvania
David Brownlee is a historian of modern architecture and urbanism in Europe and America. He has taught for his entire career at the University of Pennsylvania, where he won the Outstanding Teaching Award of the College Alumni Society and the university’s Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching. He has written about the nineteenth-century architecture of Britain, Germany, and France, and an important focus of his scholarship is the architecture and planning of Philadelphia. He has won major publication prizes of the Society of Architectural Historians (USA), its British counterpart, and the American Institute of Architects. He was named a Fellow by the SAH in 2015, which in 2020 established the international Brownlee Dissertation Prize in his honor. Active in civic affairs, Brownlee served for 15 years on the Philadelphia Historical Commission, and he is now on the boards of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, the Athenaeum of Philadelphia, the World Heritage City project of the Global Philadelphia Association, the Beth Sholom Preservation Foundation, and the Design Advocacy Group.
Chad Carpenter
Project Leader, Architecture LEED AP
Snøhetta
Chad Carpenter is a project manager and designer with extensive experience designing and executing the construction of complex public projects. A committed multi-disciplinary practitioner, Chad came to Snøhetta with a background in sculpture, bicycle design, and engineering. As an architecture project leader with Snøhetta, he has overseen a diverse array of projects from concept through construction, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art expansion, Charles Library at Temple University, and the Isabel Bader Performing Arts Center. Chad has also contributed design and project management expertise to a series of projects that are currently under construction, including the Vesterheim Commons Visitor Center in Decorah, Iowa; Charlotte-Mecklenburg new Main Library in Charlotte, North Carolina; and the Museo de Ciencias Ambientales in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Elisandro (Alex) Cabada
Assistant Professor, Emerging Technologies and Immersive Scholarship Librarian, and Director of the IDEA Lab at Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Elisandro Cabada is an assistant professor and emerging technologies and immersive scholarship librarian at the Grainger Engineering Library where he leads the technology-rich IDEA Lab Digital Scholarship Center (idealab.illinois.edu). Elisandro holds faculty appointments in the University Library and in the engineering-based Carle Illinois College of Medicine at the University of Illinois. His research interests include studying barriers to access, pedagogical affordances, and application of emerging and immersive technologies in research and instruction. He is a first generation American and college student and an alum of the ALA Spectrum and ARL Kaleidoscope Scholarship programs. Elisandro is a 2021 recipient of the ALA RUSA Best Emerging Technology Application (BETA) Award, was named a 2022 Library Journal Mover and Shaker for Innovation, and is a candidate to be the next president of the Association of College & Research Libraries.
John Cearley
Associate
The S/L/A/M Collaborative
John Cearley is an architect for SLAM, based in Atlanta. He works with colleges and universities to create state-of-the-art facilities for research and teaching. As a WELL Accredited Professional, he has a special interest in the health and well-being of building occupants.
Adé Cornelius
Architectural Designer
Urban Practice
Adé is a recent graduate from Temple University. She received her Master of Architecture this past summer after completing the University’s accelerated 4+1 program. During her last year of school, she worked on her thesis which focused on building generational wealth in underserved black communities. She emphasizes the importance of socially conscious architecture and tactical programming in the process of building healthy communities and generational wealth. Adé continues her efforts to make change through community-based design as an Architectural Designer at Urban Practice in Camden, NJ.
Emily Daly
Interim Associate University Librarian for Research and Public Services
Duke University Libraries
Emily Daly currently serves as interim associate university librarian (AUL) for Research and Public Services. Emily served as interim head of Research & Instructional Services and was the head of the Assessment & User Experience Department for nine years before beginning her current interim role. Emily finds (nearly!) all aspects of her work interesting, but she especially enjoys working with talented library colleagues; managing projects; learning more about members of the Duke community through in-depth studies, interviews, and usability tests; mentoring graduate students and new library workers; and helping to improve usability of the Libraries’ website and physical spaces, which she’s found to be a never-ending job.
Emily began at Duke Libraries as an intern in 2006 before starting full-time as an instruction librarian the following year. Prior to working at Duke, Emily taught high school English for a short time and then served as the teen librarian at Natrona County Public Library in Casper, Wyoming and as librarian in Durham’s Southern High School. Emily received a BA in English/secondary education from N.C. State and an MS in library science from UNC-Chapel Hill.
Trevor A. Dawes
Vice Provost for Libraries and Museums and May Morris University Librarian
University of Delaware
Trevor A. Dawes has worked in the academic library sector for over 20 years developing and providing a range of service-enhancing training and professional development opportunities that positively impact library-wide projects and programs. Dawes also facilitates workshops on leadership development and diversity, improving the knowledge, skills, competencies, and abilities of librarians and library workers. A published author and presenter, Dawes has written or edited books, book chapters, and articles, and presented on a variety of topics at local, national, and international conferences. Dawes earned his master of Library Science from Rutgers University and has two additional master’s degrees in Educational Leadership and Educational Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Damecia Donahue
Librarian IV, Strategic Foresight
Wayne State University
Damecia Donahue is a graduate of the School of Information Sciences at Wayne State University (WSU), in Detroit, Michigan. Prior to receiving her MLIS, she graduated at the Master of Arts level with concentrations in creative writing and technical communication. Her undergraduate work includes journalism, rhetoric, technology studies, and communication. She is a librarian IV at WSU who focuses on developing strategic foresight models by exploring diverse new modes of service related to innovation, technology, creativity, individuality, and teaching and learning. This work is done through the Tech Bunker and Tech Vault, interdisciplinary labs developed in 2018 that function as hubs for community “technology reference.” In her spare time, she enjoys reading and writing sci-fi, horror movies, photography, mid-century building architecture, performance art, and wig and outfit coordination.
Shannon Dowling
Associate Principal, Learning Environments Strategy and Design
Ayers Saint Gross
Shannon Dowling, MArch, AIA, LEEDAP, is an architect and educator focused on research-informed and student-centered spaces for higher education. Dowling serves as the lead learning environments strategist at Ayers Saint Gross. She was an adjunct professor of interior design at Virginia Commonwealth University from 2008–2019. Dowling has a master of architecture, metropolitan research and design from Southern California Institute of Architecture and a bachelor of architecture from Virginia Tech. She was a 2020–2021 Society of College and University Planning Fellow who studied the relationship between physical space and belonging.
Craig Dykers
Founding Partner, Architect
Snøhetta
Since 1989, Craig Dykers has established offices in Norway, Egypt, England, and in the United States. His interest in design as a promoter of social and physical well-being is supported by ongoing observation and development of an innovative and sustainable design process. As one of the founding partners of Snøhetta, Craig has led many of Snøhetta’s prominent projects internationally, including the Alexandria Library in Egypt, the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet in Oslo, Norway, the National September 11 Memorial Museum Pavilion in New York City, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Expansion in California, and the new Central Library in Calgary, Canada. Recently, Craig has led the design of the Far Rockaway Library in Queens, New York and the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Medora, North Dakota.
Elliot Felix
Founder and Partner
brightspot Strategy, a Buro Happold Company
Elliot Felix is a consultant to more than 100 colleges and universities and author of How to Get the Most Out of College. The strategy consultancy he founded, brightspot, has improved the experience of more than 1,000,000 students by improving the spaces they live and learn in, the support services they rely on, and the technology they use. You can find his work in Fast Company, Forbes, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife Liz, son Theo, and daughter Nora.
Lily Garcia Walton
Chief People Officer
Silverchair
Lily drives the company’s people strategy, enabling the success of Silverchair’s exceptional professionals. She has more than two decades of experience leading technology, education, media, and professional services organizations through transformative change while preserving a strong culture and a sense of mission. Lily is licensed to practice law in Colorado, DC, and Virginia, and she is certified as a senior professional in human resources. She is a resident of Nelson County, Virginia, where she shares a cottage in the woods with her husband, two boys, three rescue cats, and a Morkie-Poo.
Tom Hickerson
Consultant
QualityMetrics LLC
Tom Hickerson’s career includes international leadership in library and museum administration, archives and special collections, technology innovation, and library building design. After an extensive career at Cornell University, he became vice provost at the University of Calgary with a mandate to lead the design of a new model for university libraries. The $205M project to build the Taylor Family Digital Library led to his founding role in the Designing Libraries for the 21st Century Conference series. His professional leadership includes serving as president of the Society of American Archivists, president of the Canadian Association of Research Libraries, and on the board of the Association of Research Libraries. He is a Cornell University librarian emeritus whose recognitions include being named an SAA Fellow and Computerworld Honors Program Laureate for “the use of information technologies for the benefit of society.” He is presently a consultant affiliated with QualityMetrics LLC.
Melissa Jadlos
Library Director
St. John Fisher University
Melissa Jadlos is library director at St. John Fisher University in Rochester, NY and co-director of the College Library Director Mentoring Program. Melissa’s interests include leadership, mentoring, copyright, assessment, and the strategic communication of library value. She has written and presented on these issues locally and nationally. She received a Library Journal Mover & Shaker award for her innovative transformation of the library in her first five years as director.
Cindy Kaufman
Principal Associate, Director of Interior Architecture, Architect and Interior Designer
HOLT Architects
Joining HOLT in 1994, Ms. Kaufman has extensive skills in the design of higher education facilities, including two decades of library architecture for both higher education and public clients. Using both her architecture and interior design background, Cindy creates contextually sensitive architectural solutions that are rooted in innovative interior architecture, efficient space planning, and the strategic selection of interior finishes and furnishings. Cindy enthusiastically works with end users to help them realize their project goals and translates them into healthy, comfortable, functional, flexible, and inspiring spaces. In addition, Cindy has taught design studios at Cornell University’s Design and Environmental Analysis Program, including an intensive design studio focusing on library design, history, and current trends.
Joan Lippincott
Associate Executive Director Emerita
Coalition for Networked Information
Joan K. Lippincott is associate executive director emerita of the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), a joint program of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL) and EDUCAUSE, based in Washington, DC. At CNI, Joan provided leadership for programs in teaching and learning, learning spaces, digital scholarship, ETDs, and assessment. She served on the boards of the Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (NDLTD), the New Media Consortium (NMC) and on the advisory boards for the Horizon Report for both higher education and libraries. Joan was the editor of the EDUCAUSE Review E-Content column and was chair of the Association of College & Research Libraries’ (ACRL) New Publications Board, and served as a member of the ACRL task force that produced the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. She has served on the advisory boards of the Learning Spaces Collaboratory and the Learning Space Toolkit project. Joan has consulted with many academic libraries on their space renovation projects and has been on the planning committee for the Designing Libraries for the 21st Century conference since its inception.
Joseph Lucia
Dean of University Libraries
Temple University
Joseph Lucia is dean of Libraries at Temple University. Under his leadership, in 2019 the university completed construction and began operation of the world-class Charles Library, notable for its unique design by architects Snøhetta and local partners Stantec. Prior to serving as dean at Temple, Lucia served as university librarian at Villanova University for 11 years. During his tenure at Villanova, Falvey Library won the 2013 ACRL Excellence Award in the University category.
Dee Magnoni
Associate University Librarian
Rutgers University-New Brunswick
Dee Magnoni oversees services, budget, and personnel for 10 libraries and centers, including special collections and university archives. Her vision is focused on excellence in research and student success, working with university stakeholders to ensure that the collections, services, and spaces of the libraries continue to support the mission of the university while building the essential elements of the library of tomorrow. Dee previously worked in libraries within corporate America, government, and academia. She received her MLS from SUNY-Albany and her BA from Lehigh University.
Kit Meyer
Senior Project Manager, Capital Construction and Renovation
University of Virginia
Kit Meyer joined the University of Virginia’s Capital Construction and Renovation Department in 2007. Since that time she has managed historic preservation, utility, academic, athletic, and auxiliary projects. She has completed four new residence halls, a data center, and an engineering student projects building as well as many comprehensive renovations. She is currently managing the renewal of the University’s Main Library. The project reflects the fundamental changes to research, scholarship, and library use that is affecting higher education everywhere. Kit has a BA and an MEd from the University of Virginia.
Jaspreet Pahwa
NCARB, LEED AP
DC Public library
Jaspreet Pahwa has been delivering transformative, award-winning built environment in both DC and Virginia for 20+ years. In her current role as Director of Capital Planning & Construction, she leads the Design and Construction for DC Public library. She led District of Columbia’s first public-private partnership library anchored in a mixed-use development. She enabled a first-of-its-kind, library-based solar program in DC, bagged the LEED platinum & Climate Change Champion award furthering sustainability & resiliency goals. In a previous role as Capital Projects Manager for Henrico County, Virginia, she showcased the ROI on well-funded civic built environment projects. In her role at Sustainable Design Consulting, she led charrettes in early design and steered construction teams to their goals.
Ms. Pahwa is a licensed Architect in New York, Virginia, & New Delhi and draws on a multitude of typologies in her portfolio including tech-centric workspaces, retail, hospitality, higher-ed, to deliver impactful built environments. She leverages her global vantage point to harmonize the strains of the built environment and the role of civic space. She has been a guest speaker and panelist at Harvard’s future of library design, served as a jury member for DC Association of General Contractors and a board member for the Glen Allen Cultural Arts Center in Virginia.
Greg Raschke
Senior Vice Provost and Director of Libraries
NC State University
Greg Raschke is the senior vice provost and director of Libraries at NC State where he leads a system of two main libraries, three branches, and over 200 FTE staff. He leads partnerships and strategic efforts in pursuit of its vision—to make the Libraries NC State’s competitive advantage. He served for over a decade as the associate director for Collections and Scholarly Communication with the Libraries where he led programs to build, manage, and preserve the Libraries’ extensive general and special collections. Greg served on the leadership team that envisioned, planned, and implemented the award winning James B. Hunt Jr. Library. He has undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Andrew Rechnitz
Director, Technology Engagement
Texas State University
After graduating with a doctorate in English from the University of Texas at Austin, Andrew was appointed CLIR and Mellon postdoctoral fellow in digital scholarship at Southwestern University. Working in this capacity gave him the opportunity to forge partnerships with departments outside of his discipline, exposing him to new interests and a wider sense of academic community. His major projects included founding the Smith Library Makerspace and developing a VR adventure game that introduces incoming students to basic information literacy skills. Andrew currently serves as director of the Technology Engagement Division at Texas State University, where he is thrilled to lead a team of librarians and professional staff who oversee Alkek One, a suite of new and emerging technology spaces located on the first floor of the Alkek Library. They specifically developed Alkek One to support faculty research and to enrich the student experience for members of diverse academic and cultural backgrounds. Their mission is to provide the entire university community with state-of-the-art spaces, equitable services, and inclusive educational opportunities that foster the success of all learners. To achieve this mission, they prioritize flexibility over fixed designs, equal access to no-cost and low-cost resources, and pedagogical approaches that promote design thinking and help students overcome barriers to learning digital skills.
DaVonne R. Rooney
Director of Library Operations, Paul J. Gutman Library
Thomas Jefferson University – East Falls
DaVonne R. Rooney started her career as a public librarian in her hometown of Williamstown and the nearby town of Willingboro, both in southern New Jersey. Following her time in both libraries as a teen librarian and reference services librarian, respectively, she took a giant leap and began her academic career at Penn Libraries at the University of Pennsylvania. There, as the head of Access Services, working primarily from the Van Pelt-Dietrich Library, DaVonne contributed greatly to the reshaping of service and policy system-wide. As a result of her time at Penn and her previous 10 years of service in retail, DaVonne centers user experience and user-centered service and perspective as key components of operating an organization, especially one as community-centered as a library. A library’s spaces and services should reflect the core needs of its community above all else. She hopes to use this core value as a north star as she continues to contribute to the strategic vision and intentions of Jefferson University where she is currently employed. DaVonne holds a master’s in library and information science from the College of Computing and Informatics at Drexel University. She received her bachelor’s in art in journalism from the College of Media and Communications at Temple University.
Emily Sherwood
Director of the Digital Scholarship Lab and Studio X
University of Rochester
Emily Sherwood is director of Digital Scholarship and Studio X at University of Rochester’s River Campus Libraries. She regularly collaborates with faculty, staff, and administrators at Rochester and beyond to develop experiential learning opportunities, increase digital literacy skills, and push the boundaries of how libraries support research and teaching through the use of technology. Emily holds a doctorate in English from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and a masters in Shakespearean Studies from King’s College London. She is an alum of both the Council on Libraries and Information Resources (CLIR) Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and the EDUCAUSE/CLIR Leading Change Institute.
Michael Skolnick
Principal
PZS Architects
A principal at PZS Architects for more than 20 years, Michael leads design, operations, and project management of the firm’s educational, corporate, and multi-family high-rise residential projects. Michael’s 30+ years of professional experience and passion for architecture have made him a skilled leader of people and process. Michael recently served on the AIA National Committee for Equity, Diversity and the Future of Architecture, the AIA National Taskforce for Climate Action, and he is an AIA National Strategic Council Bethune Fellow. Additionally, Michael is a past President of AIA Pennsylvania and former PA State Representative on the AIA National Strategic Council.
Kornelia Tancheva
The Hillman University Librarian and Director, University Library System
University of Pittsburgh
Dr. Kornelia Tancheva is originally from Bulgaria where she graduated from Sofia University with an MA in English and then worked as an assistant professor of English Language and Literature there before she moved to the United States. She earned her PhD in American drama and theatre from Cornell University in 1996. She has been teaching classes in drama and theatre, English language and literature, and English as a second language since 1986 at Sofia University, Ithaca College, and Cornell University. She is currently teaching an MA course on “Theatre and Drama in the Age of the Internet” and a course on “Big Data in the Humanities” at Sofia University. In 1997, Dr. Tancheva switched careers to librarianship and worked for 20 years at the Cornell University Library in progressively more responsible positions—Instruction Coordinator, Director of Collections, Reference, Instruction and Outreach, Director of Olin, Uris, and the Annex Libraries, and Associate University Librarian for Research and Learning Services. In May 2017, she assumed the University Librarian position at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Tancheva also holds a MLS degree from the Syracuse University School of Information Science.
James Templeton
Assistant Vice President and University Architect
Temple University
James is the assistant vice president and university architect of Temple University. In this role, he oversees the planning, design, physical development, and preservation of all Temple campuses, and serves as the lead design representative for the University on all major capital projects. Additionally, James provides strategic leadership to the overall direction of the University campus development plan. As a leader in the Project Delivery Group, all planning and design functions report to him. James has helped lead the physical growth of the University over the past several years, leading the design and development of such projects as the recently built Aramark STAR Complex, the Temple Sports Complex, the Tyler School of Art Renovations, the award-winning Landscape Master Plan & multi-project landscape implementation, and the Mazur & Gladfelter Lobby, Terrace and Infill projects. Prior to joining Temple, James served as director of Design & Planning with H2L2 Architects/Planners, where he designed a diverse range of projects, both overseas and throughout the Philadelphia region. These include expansion to the American School of Paris, a new science and performing arts building at the American University of Cairo, a new campus for the American School of Warsaw, new facilities at Shippensburg University, the Architecture Building and the Pearson McGonigle Recreation Center Expansion & Renovations at Temple University, and the new South Street Bridge in Philadelphia.
Thomas Teper
Associate University Librarian for Collections and Technical Services
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Thomas Teper is the associate university librarian for Collections and Technical Services and associate dean of Libraries at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Tom oversees acquisitions, coordinates collection development and management activities, oversees technical services activities, and works closely with representatives from consortial partners at the University, state, and regional level, as well as the University Library’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library. Since 2018, Tom has also served as the director of the Library Building Project, coordinating aspects of the building project from project conceptualization through (at this point) design development for the first of four project phases. Prior to joining the Library’s administrative team, Prof. Teper served as the University Library’s first head of Preservation, overseeing the early development of its preservation program and eventually being named as the first John “Bud” Velde Professor for Library Preservation. Tom’s other experience in libraries includes work for the University of Kentucky and pre-professional work at the University of Pittsburgh, the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, and The College of Wooster. He has published and presented on topics related to preservation, collection development, and consortial relations and, recently, chaired the HathiTrust’s Print Monograph Archive Planning Task Force.
Nancy Turner
Director for Planning, Strategy and Organizational Evolution, University Libraries
Temple University
Turner has been at Temple University Libraries for eight years, where she currently serves as director for Planning, Strategy and Organizational Evolution. In this role she supports data-driven decision making by cultivating a robust data collection infrastructure, provides oversight for assessment and research activities at the Libraries, and provides administrative support to cross-departmental teams that align practice with strategic actions. Under the umbrella of ARL’s Research Library Impact Framework program, she conducted interviews with library staff over a three-year period to understand how physical and digital space supports library work. Turner has worked in academic libraries (Syracuse University and New Mexico State University) in addition to public and special libraries. She received her BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA from the University of Chicago, her MLIS from Clark Atlanta, and recently completed an MEd in Adult and Organizational Development at Temple’s College of Education.
John Unsworth
University Librarian, Dean of Libraries, Professor of English
University of Virginia
In June of 2016, John Unsworth was appointed dean of Libraries, university librarian, and professor of English at the University of Virginia. From 2012 to 2016, John served as vice-provost for Library and Technology Services and chief information officer at Brandeis University, where he was also university librarian and professor of English. Before joining Brandeis University, John was dean of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign from 2003 to 2012. From 1993–2003, he served as the first director of the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, and as a faculty member in the English Department, at the University of Virginia.
Shali Zhang
Dean of Libraries
Auburn University
Dr. Shali Zhang is dean of Libraries and professor at Auburn University since February 2019. Prior to that, she was dean of Libraries at University of Montana, 2012–2019. In both positions, Dr. Zhang is responsible for providing leadership for the Libraries and for advancing the Libraries’ central role in the educational, research, and service mission of these institutions. At the University of Montana, Shali led a building project that constructed the new Learning Commons space at the Maurine and Mike Mansfield Library in 2018. At Auburn University, Shali led a renovation project for Innovation & Research Commons space in the main library that opened in fall 2020 and provided a series of new services and programs to students and faculty of the University.