Associate Fellowship Program: 2004-2005 Associate Fellows

From left to right:
Lidia Y. Hutcherson, Rachel A. Gyore, Sandy D. Tao, Margaret A. Basket
Loren Frant, Wamunyima Christine Kanyengo, Stephanie N. Dennis.

Meet the Associates

Margaret A. Basket
Ms. Basket received her MSI in April 2004 from the University of Michigan. She has library intern experience at the Minnesota State Archives, 3M Company, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, as well as experience working in document delivery and as a head librarian for a university residence hall library. Prior to beginning her career in librarianship, she had 10 years experience as a project and technical service engineer at the 3M Company. She also spent four years from 1998-2002 as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal. Her undergraduate training was in Mechanical Engineering.

Stephanie Narva Dennis
Ms. Dennis received her MLS in May 2004 from the University of Maryland. While pursuing her MLS, she completed a field study for the Public Services Division at the National Library of Medicine. She also categorized online health information for a company developing a search engine and worked as a graduate assistant in the Office of Research Administration and Advancement. Stephanie has experience in research, training, and Web product development. For almost five years, she tracked and analyzed federal funding opportunities for the Grants Resource Center of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). At AASCU she also delivered personalized training on funding search techniques. While at the software company Blackboard, Stephanie developed an online portal for instructors teaching distance education classes. She also served as a Research and Knowledge Manager for the Points of Light Foundation. Her undergraduate degree is in English Language and Literature.

Stephanie’s interests include patient safety, health literacy, and consumer health information. She is also interested in health data standards and using technology to improve quality of care.

Loren Frant
Ms. Frant received her MLIS in June 2004 from the University of California, Los Angeles. While attending graduate school Loren served as a Reference Desk Assistant at UCLA's College Library and as a Reference and Instruction Intern at California State University, Northridge's Oviatt Library. She also worked at the Fowler Museum of Cultural History where she managed several projects, including revision of the museum's controlled vocabulary. Through this project Loren developed expertise in thesaurus construction and grew her understanding of data standards. Additionally, Loren oversaw maintenance and upgrades for the collections management system and advised Fowler Museum staff on cataloging best practices. During summer 2003 Loren volunteered in a primary school library in rural South Africa which sparked her interest in the role of libraries in international public health initiatives.

Loren has been active in the American Association of Museums and the American Library Association. She participated in a panel presentation on museum database administrators at the American Association of Museums 2004 Annual Meeting and she was an officer for UCLA's award-winning American Library Association Student Chapter. Prior to pursuing her MLIS at UCLA, Loren worked for a visual history foundation, a museum software vendor, and an IT consulting company. She has an undergraduate degree in American Studies from Cornell University.

Rachel A. Gyore
Ms. Gyore received her MLS in May 2004 from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. She has three years experience as a library assistant in the Edward G. Miner Library at the University of Rochester, working in reference, circulation, archives, and Web management. She also has three years experience as an assistant manager at Borders Books & Music. Her undergraduate degree is in History.

Lidia Y. Hutcherson
Ms. Hutcherson received her MLIS in May 2004 from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. While at UIUC, Lidia worked as a Graduate Assistant at the University of Illinois Library of the Health Sciences. In this position, she supported reference and instructional services through bibliographic instruction, expert searching of biomedical databases, developing Web based health information resources, and assisting with collection development. Lidia was also Graduate Assistant to the UIUC Associate University Librarian for Planning and Budgeting, a position in which she assisted with preparing the annual report, budget planning, library policy development and strategic planning. After taking a course in medical informatics and developing an asthma health monitor, Lidia interned at the Carle Hospital Medical Library where she gained valuable experience providing health care professionals with clinical information, and working on a hospital PDAs security project.

Lidia is interested in the capacity of medical informatics to improve health care, while recognizing the vital role played by library management in planning and resource allocation. Her interests also include digital resources management, learning technologies and international health in the age of globalization. Lidia received her undergraduate degree in History from the University of California, Davis.

Wamunyima Christine Kanyengo
Ms. Christine Kanyengo is participating in this year’s program as an International Fellow. She received her MALS in 1998 from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. In Zambia, she is Head of the University of Zambia Medical Library, which has a sister library partnership with the University of Florida Health Science Center Library. She is also the project coordinator for “Communication for Better Health in Zambia,” a project funded by the Dreyfus Health foundation of New York with the objective to provide innovative and current information to rural health workers. From 1999-2002, she was the national coordinator for the African Index Medicus Database Project in Zambia. Her undergraduate degree is in Library Studies and Public Administration from the University of Zambia.

Sandy Tao
Ms. Tao received her MLIS degree in May 2004 from San Jose State University in California. She has experience in library automation, serving as a metadata support specialist at the Stanford University Library. Prior to beginning her career in librarianship, Sandy had 5 years experience in information systems development, including database, Web site, and Web applications development. She also has laboratory experience as a research associate on a human genome research project. Her undergraduate training was in Biology. Sandy's current interests include health disparities, open access issues, environmental health, and thesaurus design.