Posted on behalf of Dean Michele Cloonan

I am away from Simmons on a multi-city voyage that includes a conference, a collaboration with a university in Korea, a GSLIS graduation in Vietnam, and a program evaluation with Professor Pat Oyler and Dean Emeritus Robert Stueart. Everything in this cornucopia is related to GSLIS, as you are about to read.

February 27-29, 2008: I attend the I-conference.

My first stop was Los Angeles where I attended the now annual I-conference?this year held at UCLA. I was on a panel called ?I-Schools & Archival Studies.? Richard Cox and Ron Larsen from Pittsburgh presented a position paper on the usefulness of archival thinking to information scientists, and Anne Gilliland from UCLA and I responded to their presentation.

It is no surprise that Anne and I supported their premise, but each of us added additional ideas. And both of us were somewhat critical of archival programs that are stand-alone specializations where the students have little or no exposure to information science curricula. I believe that a well-balanced program should include the ?L? and the ?A? as well as the ?I,? which is what we are striving for at Simmons.

We could do even better at integrating these sub-disciplines, and I will continue to think about how we can do that at GSLIS. The field of information studies is at the nexus of information and users. The different ways in which archivists, librarians, and information scientists think about this nexus is worth examining more deeply as we continually evaluate our curricula.

February 29- March 5, 2008: From LA to Seoul

From sunny and comfortable LA, to Seoul, where I again faced winter. (The weather in Seoul is similar to Boston, but with less snow.)

I spent three days in Seoul at Yonsei University considering ways in which our two programs can collaborate. Protestant missionaries founded Yonsei, the oldest university in Korea, in 1885. The library and information science opened in 1957. It is the best program in the country. Our faculties and programs complement each other. Thus we are looking at ways in which students from each of our campuses could takes courses on each other?s campuses. We hope that our faculty will also find ways to collaborate.

Professor Jee Yeon Lee, chair of the department, was a wonderful hostess. I stayed at one of the guesthouses on campus. She and the faculty took me to fabulous restaurants, including an old Buddhist place with teas and vegetable dishes I had never tasted. Buddhist art adorned the entry rooms. Vegetarian cooking in Korea was a revelation to me. Those familiar only with kimchi, or Korean BBQ, should try the vegetarian restaurants when in Korea.

A trip to Seoul wouldn?t be complete without seeing at least one Simmons alum. Professor Hae-young Rieh graduated from our DA program about a decade ago. She took me to a wonderful restaurant with many tasty vegetarian soups. Joining us was Professor Yi-Mun Park, a poet and philosopher who used to teach at Simmons. Professor Park is famous in Korea, and his poetry is regularly published in the U.S., France, and, of course, Korea. Nearly 80, he teaches a couple of courses a year at Yonsei. He had very warm memories to share about Simmons. And I have many greetings to pass on to CAS faculty when I return to campus.

There were light snow sprinkles throughout my visit, though these never lasted long: each day brought sunshine as well. I quipped to my host that the old line about Boston works well in Seoul: ?If you don?t like the weather wait five minutes and it will change.?

Now on to Vietnam, where I am in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) as I write this. Stay tuned: I?m off now to visit another Simmons alum.