Distinguished Alumni
The Information School Distinguished Alumni Award recognizes alumni who have made significant and exceptional contributions to the information field through their profession, in the community, or with their involvement with the Information School and the University of Washington. This award acknowledges those who continue to uphold iSchool values by helping others discover, learn, innovate, and solve problems beyond their UW years.
2020 Awardee: Jill McKinstry
Class of 1987
Jill McKinstry, the retired director of Odegaard Library and special assistant to the dean of UW libraries, has a litany of accomplishments. A triple-Husky who earned her master’s in librarianship at the iSchool in 1987, McKinstry led the 2011-13 renovation of the University of Washington’s Odegaard Undergraduate Library and piloted several technological and research innovations within the library. She’s a member of the iSchool’s MLIS Advisory Board and, with her husband, Joe, established the McKinstry Libraries Fellowship, an endowment that provides financial assistance to graduate students from underrepresented populations to pursue an MLIS degree. Some common threads run through McKinstry’s work during her UW career: a desire to improve the undergraduate experience, and a belief that libraries play a vital role for students. Read more.
2021 Award Criteria
To be considered for this year's iSchool Distinguished Alumni Award, nominees must demonstrate achievements in at least three of five areas:
- Distinguished achievement in the field of information
- Distinguished service to the information community
- Distinguished achievement in academia
- Distinguished efforts to advance diversity in the field and/or community
- Distinguished entrepreneurial excellence
- Learn more about these criteria.