Alumni Updates
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Michael Smith
MLIS, 2006
Michael recently left an industry job to become the faculty director of an iSchool interdisciplinary master's degree program, MHCI+D! He is really excited to be back on campus after 10 years in industry.
Erin Weible
Museology, 2006
In 2023, Erin reports:
"My master's degree in Museology launched me into a new field.
"Previously a mid-career project manager working with local software companies, after the master's program I was able to pivot into public and private art collection management. In 2015, I and a fellow Museology graduate launched our own art collection consulting company, The Lumiere Group.
"Focused on the ethical and transparent care of artwork throughout its lifecycle, The Lumiere Group employees work to support arts communities throughout the United States through research, acquisition, movement, care, and thoughtful deaccession of artworks. I now partner with corporations and nonprofits to strategize on ways to integrate artwork into any workplace."
Yana Yatkovskaya
Informatics, 2006
Yana has been promoted to a senior project manager at CDW and manages various projects for customers. She works with technologies including firewalls, telephony, routers and switches, primarily on Cisco and some Microsoft projects.
Laila Almounaier
Informatics, 2005
Laila spent nine years working in Product and Technology at Nordstrom, most recently as Senior Manager of Mobile Apps. In the past three years, she was focused on developing a shopping app. In September, she accepted a position in Product Management for Amazon Restaurants.
Phoebe Ayers
MLIS, 2005
Phoebe joined MIT in 2015 as Electrical Engineering & Computer Science Librarian after nine years as Physical Science & Engineering Librarian at UC Davis. She continues to be heavily involved in Wikipedia (after serving on the Wikimedia Foundation's Board of Directors for four years), including speaking and writing about how Wikipedia and libraries can work together. Phoebe co-authored a 2008 book, How Wikipedia Works, and published "Wikipedia, User-generated Content, and the Future of Reference Sources" in 2014's Reimagining Reference in the 21st Century.
David Ballantine
MLIS, 2005
In 2017, Dave started working at The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as a principal experience designer on their human centered design team. He works on building and improving their grants and contract management system, data sharing and publishing systems and enterprise business intelligence service.
Evangelina Cunningham
MLIS, 2005
Evangelina was recently hired to a tenure track position at Yakima Valley Community College as a Faculty Reference Librarian.
Mike Doane
MLIS, 2005
Mike became a full-time Lecturer at the iSchool in 2015.
Nicole Gustine
MLIS, 2005
Nicole graduated with a JD from the University of Washington School of Law, and passed the Washington State bar exam in 2014. She works in the Office of General Counsel at the Washington State Bar Association (WSBA) as the WSBA's Public Records Officer.
Erin Hawk
MLIS, 2005
In September 2014, Erin began working as the Senior Director of User Experience for Ralph Lauren's Global, Digital, and e-Commerce Division.