Teaching assistants and pre-doctoral lecturers play a crucial role in shaping students’ academic experiences. The Information School recently recognized two of them — Ph.D. candidates Erin Beneteau and Mandi Harris — for their contributions in the classroom. Nominated by students, they are the first to receive iSchool TA and Pre-Doctoral Lectureship awards.

Beneteau (pictured at left above) has long been involved at the iSchool, working as a TA, a research assistant and as a pre-doctoral lecturer, she recently received her Ph.D at the end of 2024. Her research focuses on the quality of life of adults who acquire disabilities in midlife and how creativity and engagement influence their well-being. 

As a TA for Professor Ricardo Gomez’s MLIS class on research methods and for MLIS Capstone courses, Beneteau learned she loved working with MLIS students.

“I find MLS students are really dedicated, hard-working and very earnest,” Beneteau said. “They really want to make a difference in their future careers as library scientists, and it's really heartwarming working with people who really want to make a difference in people's lives and are dedicating their education towards helping others.”

She said the nomination came as a shock to her. Even today as an alum working in instructional design at Microsoft, she is touched by the fact that out of all the TAs, she was selected.

“It's actually incredibly humbling,” Beneteau said. “It was to be recognized towards the end of my career as a Ph.D. student.”

Often putting her work as a TA before her own research, she knew the sacrifices she needed to make in order to be there for her students. While being a TA is not a requirement for Ph.D. students, she describes it as a valuable learning opportunity.

“Being a TA is the way that we have to try and observe instructors and learn from instructors on what practices we might want to incorporate into our own teaching,” Beneteau said. “I think it's an opportunity for us to try and educate ourselves on what kind of instructors we want to be.”

Beneteau found it rewarding to see the students' projects progress from initial concepts to implementation. She said that being able to interact with the diverse student body of graduate students was impactful for her as an educator.

“I think I learned from the students as much or more than they learned from me,” she said.

In the MLIS Capstone courses, Beneteau worked as a TA alongside fellow awardee Mandi Harris, who received the Pre-Doctoral Lectureship Award.

An MLIS alum and current Ph.D. student, Harris (pictured at right above) is doing her research on using Indigenous systems of knowledge to examine children’s literature and the futures of libraries.

The award recognizes Harris for her role as the instructor for LIS 570: Research, Assessment and Design. Beyond the classroom, she has expanded her impact internationally, co-leading two study abroad programs--one focused on Indigenous children’s literature and librarianship in Aotearoa, New Zealand and one focused on librarianship and diverse children's literature in the U.K.

As a children’s librarian, Harris’s time in library youth services has profoundly affected her approach to the classroom and her outlook on life. She incorporated her love for story time into the classroom, often bringing snacks like cupcakes and popcorn to her 8:30 a.m. lecture.

“You can take the children's librarian out of story time, but you can't take the story time out of the children's librarian,” Harris said.

As a member of Cherokee Nation, her culture influences her iSchool experience and how she approaches teaching.

“My culture has traditional values of being open and loving everyone we meet and accepting them exactly as who they are,” Harris said. “In a classroom, we have a room full of individuals. … The classroom is a community, one where we can build those webs of connection and learning and reciprocity between all of us and look at it as an opportunity for all of us to grow into better, more well-rounded versions of ourselves.” 

She defines the student-teacher relationship as reciprocal. Just as she is teaching the students, they are helping her learn and grow. It has been rewarding for Harris to know the impact that she has had on her students.

“What means the most to me about the award is the students nominated me for it,” Harris said. “Through teaching this class and co-leading study abroads, I learned I love teaching grown-ups as much as I love teaching toddlers and preschoolers. And I'm really glad that the students in that class felt my love of teaching come through.”

Harris finds working with MLIS students both fulfilling and inspiring, and finding the moments of joy and laughter in the midst of study incredibly rewarding.

“It just makes me so happy to see all of these wonderful MLIS students doing all these fantastic things in their communities and in their libraries and in every place they're impacting and then helping them in a small way based on my own experiences,” Harris said.