Kate McDowell
Opening Keynote Speaker
Associate Professor, Library and Information Science, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Kate McDowell regularly teaches both storytelling and data storytelling courses. She researches and publishes in the areas of storytelling as information research, social justice storytelling and what library storytelling can teach the information sciences about data storytelling. Her projects engage contexts such as libraries, non-profit fundraising, health misinformation, social justice in libraries and others. McDowell has worked with regional, national and international nonprofits including the Pan-American Health Organization (part of WHO) and the Public Library Association. Her nationally-funded project Data Storytelling Toolkit for Librarians with co-PI Matthew Turk is under development. Her storytelling research has involved training collaborations with advancement with both the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and the University of Illinois system (Chicago, Springfield), storytelling consulting work for multiple nonprofits including the 50th anniversary of the statewide Prairie Rivers Network that protects Illinois water and storytelling workshops for the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois.
Nicole Breazeale
Closing Plenary Speaker
Associate Extension Professor, Community and Leadership Development, University of Kentucky Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment
Nicole Breazeale is committed to engaged learning experiences that build community capacity, democratize knowledge and reduce social inequality. Breazeale joined the faculty of CLD as an associate extension professor in July of 2019. Before that, she served as a professor of sociology at Western Kentucky University. Breazeale was a national finalist for the prestigious Lynton Award for the Scholarship of Engagement and is a recipient of a Fulbright to Argentina. She is the founder of Project Breaking Ground: A Sustainable Jail Garden & Food Justice Project. Breazeale holds a Ph.D. from UW-Madison in community & environmental sociology, a M.A. in rural sociology from UK, and a B.A. in political science and education from Swarthmore College.
