91²Ö¿â

Each year, the School of Information makes a special effort to recognize the alumni who are transforming the global information environment and making us proud to call them our own.

Below are the awards and award winners who have received our acclaim for 2025. (Here are our past winners.)

2025 Alumni Award Winners

Mary Yates

Dan Maclachlan School Library Media Award

Before earning her M.L.I.S degree from 91²Ö¿â, Mary Yates received her B.A. in Communication from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. After completing her undergraduate degree, she served for two years with City Year Columbus before becoming an Instructional Assistant at Columbus City Schools. A life-long lover of libraries, Mary felt that once she was placed in a middle school library for her job that everything kind of clicked into place. Her colleagues and principal pushed her to pursue the M.L.I.S degree, and she says she will be forever thankful that they did. Currently, Mary works at that same  middle school, but now as the Librarian.

Brendan Erb

Dan Maclachlan School Library Media Award

Brendan Erb graduated from 91²Ö¿â in 2024 with an M.L.I.S. and K-12 School Library Media Licensure. He serves as a library media specialist in Dublin City Schools, where he is delighted to work with middle school students in all their world-exploring, relationship-propelled splendor. Brendan approaches his role as a teacher first, partnering with classroom teachers to guide students through metacognitive processes regarding the value of information and to effectively leverage tools that can match students with the information they truly need, from books to research articles, in an age of information abundance. His best advisors are students, who show him and tell him how the library can improve its services. He is currently enrolled in a Master’s Certificate in Restorative Justice in Education at Eastern Mennonite University.

Allison McPherson

H.F. Group Preservation Award

Allison McPherson earned her M.L.I.S. with a concentration in Archival Studies from 91²Ö¿â in 2024. Growing up, her grandmother saved and documented everything about their farm and family. Watching this planted a passion for history and preserving it for future generations.

During her studies she sought opportunities that grew archival skills through practical application and built a strong base network of professionals in the field. Through internships at Columbus Metropolitan Library Local History and Genealogy, and Ohio State University Libraries she learned a range of physical and digital preservation skills.
She has recently accepted a position at The Ohio State University Libraries as a Technical Services Archivist, and is excited to continue growing her preservation skills to help the field progress. Between starting a new position and pursuing continuing education any free time is spent either outside with her husband or inside with a book and her cat.

Hannah Plank

H.F. Group Preservation Award

Hannah Plank is the Digital Image Specialist in the Visual Resources Library of the art history department at Emory University. In her role at Emory, she manages a digital image collection that is used for research and teaching in art history, and works to digitize 35mm slides, negatives and other materials. She also supports digital humanities projects in art history through digitization and project management.  Hannah graduated from 91²Ö¿â in 2024 with an M.L.I.S. and she also holds an M.A. in art history from Texas Christian University and a B.A. in art history for Agnes Scott College. She is an active member of the Visual Resources Association and the Art Libraries Society of North America. Outside of work, Hannah enjoys caring for her collection of houseplants and following NCAA sports, especially volleyball and women’s basketball.

Melissa Meadwell

Janice Smuda Children's Librarianship Award

Melissa Meadwell holds a bachelor’s degree in social work from Cleveland State University and recently earned two master’s degrees, one in library and information science and one in educational technology from 91²Ö¿â.

Melissa serves as the District Librarian/Media Specialist at Cuyahoga Heights Schools. Her journey at CHS began when she was working as a Library Assistant, partnered with an incredible librarian and mentor who recently retired. Now, she's excited to continue supporting the school's amazing students and staff in her role!

When she's not working or studying, Melissa can be found camping and cheering at school sports events with her husband, Jason, her two sons, Jason and Tyler, and the family's beagle/terrier mix, Lexi. She's a big fan of concerts, movies and (of course!) reading. In fact, one of her favorite things is recommending great books to friends, family, students or anyone who will listen. As Melissa says, "There’s nothing better than helping others discover the magic of a good story!"

Matt Reihing

Thomas J. Froelich Award

Matt Reihing graduated from 91²Ö¿â’s User Experience (UX) graduate program in 2024. He is passionate about using writing and UX to make information findable and usable and was a recipient of the iSchool’s Best Papers of 2024 award. Matt’s work has included writing educational material, designing knowledge bases, optimizing websites and content and researching the findability and accessibility of information online. He is passionate about user advocacy and disability awareness, especially concerning hearing loss and hearing aid adoption. After graduating from KSU, he successfully switched industries to UX after working as a technical writer. He currently works on the design system at GAP Inc.

Christina Turner

Thomas J. Froelich Award

Christina Turner graduated with an M.S. in User Experience from 91²Ö¿â’s iSchool in 2024.  Years of public library service, gallery curation and management, freelance design and fine arts practice have informed her evolving design practice.

Christina is passionate about building community and empowering people through empathic, human-centered technology, systems and service design and implementation. She would particularly like to thank Dr. Catherine Smith and Dr. Kendra Albright for their support, feedback, and encouragement in pursuing and presenting research in the ways people discover local and community-specific information.  Christina serves on the board of local professional development organization UX Akron.