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Introducing New Names for MLA Student Scholarships

The MLA Grants and Scholarships committee is ecstatic to announce new names for the 3 previously unnamed MLA student scholarships. For over sixty years, MLA has consistently supported qualified students in their studies at graduate library science programs. All this time, the student scholarships remain nameless. Our committee agreed, to forge ahead, we need to honor our past.  

Last summer, the MLA Grants and Scholarships Committee began the process of MLA Board approval to officially re-name the MLA Student scholarships to honor health information professionals who have made an impact and connect scholarship recipients with our profession's history.  As part of the MLA Board’s desire to develop a more inclusive process for naming recognition, representatives from the Grants & Scholarships, History, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, and Awards Committees came together with the MLA Past-President as ex-officio liaison to the MLA Board as a working group. One aspect of this process was community-led nominations in November 2022.  The group deliberated December 2022 - January 2023 to discuss and identify honorees who were presented to and approved by the MLA Board in January 2023. 

Please join us in honoring these health information professionals who have made an impact, and celebrate as we connect future scholarship recipients with our profession's history!  

The Honorees

Gwendolyn S. Cruzat MLA Scholarship

Previously: MLA Scholarship

Dr. Gwendolyn Cruzat, AHIP, FMLA is a global leader in the library profession at large and one of the few librarians of color recognized with FMLA, thus naming our primary scholarship for her is important for recognizing diverse and less known voices. Dr. Cruzat has very strong ties to health sciences library education and represents the range of careers in health sciences librarianship for learners. Dr. Cruzat started her career at Detroit’s Harper Hospital Library, then working in an academic health sciences library, before rising to the rank of full professor at the University of Michigan. Read more about Dr. Cruzat on MLANET or Wikipedia. An archive of Dr. Cruzat’s papers and ephemera is available at the Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan.

 

Beverly Murphy MLA Scholarship for Underrepresented Students

Previously: MLA Scholarship for Underrepresented Students 

Picture3-Beverly Murphy.png

Beverly Murphy, AHIP, FMLA was the first Black President of MLA, first Black chair of the MLA’s Middle-Atlantic Chapter, the first Black editor of MLA News, and the first Black recipient of the Marcia C. Noyes Award, MLA’s highest professional distinction. During her 2019 Presidential Address, she coined the term “I am MLA!” which grew into today’s “I am MLA!” ambassador program. Ms. Murphy is a role model for those candidates for the Scholarship for Underrepresented Students to achieve their highest career aspirations.

Read more about Beverly Murphy on the  Journal of the Medical Library Association and MLANET

 

Ana D. Cleveland MLA Scholarship

Previously: NEW MLA Scholarship 

Dr. Ana Cleveland, AHIP, FMLA has provided health sciences library and informatics education for over 40 years. Dr. Cleveland’s achievements span the roles of educator, scholar, mentor, consultant, and recruiter in the field of health sciences librarianship. Throughout her career as a LIS educator, Dr. Cleveland has focused her efforts on recruiting and educating diverse individuals in health sciences librarianship. As a Cuban-born professional, she has always endeavored to be a role model and mentor for underrepresented health sciences librarians. She is known as a forward thinker, as reflected by her tireless efforts in integrating informatics issues into the health information curriculum at the University of North Texas. She has inspired and educated many people not just to choose to be health sciences librarians, but to advance to leadership positions in the field. The feeling is mutual: as Dr. Cleveland noted in 2021, “I love attending the annual conference because it is an opportunity for professional development. To see my friends, to see my colleagues, and to see my students and hear their success stories, because their success stories are my success stories.”

Read more about Ana Cleveland on MLANET or her inspiring 2011 Janet Doe lecture, “Miles to go before we sleep”.

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