ASU Alumna & Levi Watkins Learning Center Staffer Selected for Inaugural National Program!
By Kenneth Mullinax/ASU
Alabama State University alumna, Ashley Eaton, has been selected to participate in an inaugural nationwide 12-month program sponsored by the HBCU Library Alliance, which promotes professional excellence in the library sciences. Eaton, who also is the acquisitions librarian in the Levi Watkins Learning Center (LWLC), will be a member of the first cohort of the “Stronger Together, Excellence in Library Leadership'' program, which also is supported by Brown University. Eaton will attend a workshop and training program at Fisk University and will be involved in a year-long program of activities and meetings.
"I am humbled and honored to have been selected to be a member of the inaugural cohort of the Stronger Together, Excellence in Library Leadership program," Eaton said. "The first cohort ever - that I am blessed to be a member - will focus on the library leader’s role in promoting organizational healing from the disruption caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We will also be taught to ensure that libraries, in addition to their traditional roles, will serve as sites of intentional social justice work," stated Eaton, who earned her Bachelor of Arts in History from ASU in 2015.
Eaton explained that in the year ahead, her cohort will gain the tools, skills, and knowledge to develop leadership plans to help ASU's students and those at other HBCUs across the country. Her appointment takes place from June 2022 - May 2023 and is fully funded from outside sources. She also thanked ASU's LWLC Dean, Dr. Janice Franklin, for her support and inspiration.
"Through workshops, discussions, activities, and site visits, this hybrid program will allow our cohort to gather virtually and in-person with a goal of graduating from the program with stronger skills to support the core mission of the HBCU Library Alliance, which is to strengthen HBCU libraries and enlighten their students and staff, which will help us all serve a unique and indispensable role as cultural stewards of the African-American experience," said the Birmingham native.
News media contact: Kenneth Mullinax, 334-229-4104.
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