Annual Meeting 2021

Alpha Chapter at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Annual celebrated its Annual Meeting and Initiation Ceremony on Saturday, May 8. In the context of the Pandemic, it was hosted fully online for the second time in Alpha Chapter history.  Participation of our Initiates from digitally disparate locations was a silver lining, enabling a welcomed moment to come together to celebrate success. In what seems like a “new tradition”, new initiates were invited to join the Alpha Chapter officers for a group photo in Zoom.

Two awards supported by the Alpha Chapter were bestowed this year: the Kathryn Luther and William T Henderson Award to Paul Richmond; and the Anne M. Boyd Award/Beta Phi Mu to Hanh H. Nguyen.

Join us in welcoming our newest Alpha Chapter members: Class of 2020: Kadet Luise Alaks, Sydney Elizabeth Anderson, Kailey Lynn Bowen, Bran Eveland Cron, Eden C. Crothers, Lily M. Dawson, Jeffrey Thomas Diamond, Marian Ekweogwu, Brynlee Paige Emery, Jeanmarie Grace Floyd, Madina Grace, Rebecca Catherine Greenlee, Katherine Elizabeth Howell, Katherine Anne Hunnicutt, Clairssa M. Ihssen, Kristin Greer Love, Ashlynn Maczko, Jessie Mae Maimone, Anne Elizabeth Mitchell, Grace Elizabeth Moran, Shannon Therese O’Rourke Kasali, Olivia R. Ochoa, Miranda C. Phair, Dana Marie Queen, Sara L. Rasmussen, Paul Stanley Wolfe Richmond, Noah Oluwafemi Samuel, Simone Stone, Jeanine Marie Vaughn, Elizabeth Allayne Wheeles, Rachel F. Whitman, DeAnza Williams, Hollis C. Wittman, Emily J. Wros; Class of 2020: Nada R. Abdelrahim, Miranda Pistor Axworthy, Sophia Danielle Beltran, Laura Syra Brettholle, Erin Elizabeth Kane, Hanh H. Nguyen, Monique E. Rivera; and rrom the Class of 2019: Halle E. Burns.

In attendance were Alpha Chapter Officers President Sharon Comstock,  Vice President/President-Elect Pia Hunter, Secretary/Treasurer Linda Smith, and Past President Paul Healey. Also in attendance and serving Alpha Chapter this year was Emily Knox, Faculty Advisor, and National Beta Phi Mu President.

Alpha Chapter President Sharon Comstock, Ph.D., M.A., and faculty member of the iSchool at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign offered words on storytelling as a requisite of leadership: “Bibliothekarios philax mathesis ‘Guardians of Knowledge’ or Stewards of Stories?” Comstock invoked the “origin stories” of our Alpha Chapter founders, mentors, and members from 1948, in particular drawing on the inspirations of former President and Secretery/Treasurer William (Bill) T. Henderson (1929-2020) and Prof. Emerita Kathryn L. Henderson.  Inspirations of Alpha Chapter’s past live in membership present, and Comstock urged all to honor the perseverance our current initiates demonstrated throughout the Pandemic at iSchool. Stories of Alpha Chapter included those of past compassionate leadership and mentorship; as well as current initiates being adaptive, creative, resilient, and triumphant. She invited all members to live the stories we want to tell; listen for the stories we most need to hear; and to embrace the responsibility of being transformative tellers/leaders as Alpha Chapter members.