UT iSchool Alumni Step Up to Create an Endowed Scholarship for BIPOC Students
Graduates of the University of Texas at Austin School of Information have started a grassroots fundraising campaign to create an endowed scholarship to help more BIPOC scholars enter the profession.
The grassroots fundraising campaign was formed in response to a 2020 petition by UT iSchool students. The petition stated: “BIPOC students, who face additional obstacles to academic success and personal well-being, should have pathways for education at the iSchool through accessible and available funding,” among other demands for antiracist action. The call prompted UT iSchool alumni Alison Clemens and Michelle Keba Knecht to organize planning for an endowed scholarship to support BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) students.
The iSchool Alumni Scholarship for BIPOC Students will be administered by Texas Exes, the UT Austin alumni association, and supporters can donate through www.texasexes.org/iSchoolScholarship. Meeting the initial goal of $50,000 will create a recurring yearly scholarship of $2,000. Fundraising began in October 2021 and raised $8,000 in the first month.
The scholarship is a concrete step toward the University of Texas’s, and the School of Information’s, goals of greater diversity, equity, and inclusion. It is the only scholarship specifically for UT iSchool students of color, who are underrepresented both in the information profession and the iSchool — Emma Hetrick, MSIS expected 2022
BIPOC communities are underrepresented in the information professions. In 2017, surveys of both the American Library Association and the Society of American Archivists reported that the library and archives fields are roughly 87% white, while the U.S. population is currently 76% white. Significantly, fewer than 5% of individuals in both professions reported identifying as Black or African American, compared to 13% of the country as a whole. Results from an informal 2020 survey of iSchool students by the petitioners showed that “89.3% of respondents want action to be taken to increase scholarship and funding opportunities for BIPOC students and to hire more BIPOC faculty and staff.”
The UT iSchool BIPOC Scholarship Team began meeting in December 2020. The team is led by Michelle Keba Knecht and Alison Clemens in collaboration with Lauren Algee, Hannah Calkins, Martha Horan, Kathi Isham, Dana Sagona, Elliot Williams, Rachel E. Winston, student representative Emma Hetrick, and faculty representative Dr. Loriene Roy.
Press Contact: Alison Clemens, alison.clemens@gmail.com, 203-432-9029