CI names School of Information Science Director

Youngok Choi will be the director of the University of Kentucky College of Communication and Information’s School and Information Science effective July 1, following current Director Jeffrey Huber’s return to faculty after serving 15 years in the role.

“It is both a great honor and a great responsibility to be named the School of Information Science director at the University of Kentucky,” Choi said. “I would like to thank the SIS faculty and staff as well as the search committee and Dean Jennifer Greer for hiring me. There are enormous shoes to fill as Dr. Jeff Huber has done so much for the School, and I humbly hope to help lead SIS in its next chapter, listening and working with everyone at SIS, including alumni and of course, our students.”

Choi has twice served as the chair of the Department of Library and Information Science and a professor at The Catholic University of America in Washington. She also served as associate dean for academic programs of the then School of Library and Information Science at Catholic while advancing in the faculty there since 2006. Earlier in her career, she was on faculty in the Department of Computer Science at the State University of New York, Oswego, and worked professionally as a librarian at Chosun Daily Newspaper in South Korea.

The School of Information Science brings together communication, information, instruction and technology. The School offers two fully online master’s degrees (library science and information communication technology), an undergraduate major in information communication technology (including an online degree completion component) and an online minor in information studies. Additionally, the School includes the Instructional Communication and Research program, which teaches university core courses in multi-modal communication to incoming students. The school boasts an impressive cadre of internationally recognized faculty who are recipients of multiple prestigious awards and fellowships.

“We are fortunate to have someone with Dr. Choi’s background to lead our nationally ranked programs in the School of Information Science,” said Jennifer Greer, Dean of the College of Communication and Information. “Dr. Choi had strong support from the faculty, staff, alumni and professional communities served by this large and diverse School, and we are excited to welcome her to Kentucky.”

Choi’s research focuses on digital humanities, information seeking and retrieval, relevance judgment, social tagging, library and information science education, and professional practice. She’s received external funding for her research from the Institute for Museum and Library Services and serves as a member of the editorial board of Library and Information Science Research. Her teaching expertise includes the organization of information, metadata, information systems and technology, digital libraries, and interface design and usability studies. She’s been active in professional organizations, including the Association for Library and Information Science Education and the Association for Computing Machinery/Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers Joint Conference on Digital Libraries.

Choi holds a Ph.D. in Library and Information Science from the University of Pittsburgh and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Library Science from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea.