Faculty and staff excellence highlighted by KU Libraries
The University of Kansas Libraries are proud to recognize outstanding individual employee contributions and achievements via 2025 faculty and staff awards. Awards were formally presented to five employees during the libraries’ 18th annual Celebration of Excellence in February, with an appreciation luncheon honoring all library employees on April 16.
Staff Excellence Awards
Kevin McCarty, Assistant Director of Communications, and Marianne Reed, Program Manager for Library Digital Publishing Services, were each presented with a 2025 Staff Excellence Award. The annual award recognizes employees who demonstrate commitment, teamwork, innovation, and a significant contribution to the University of Kansas Libraries.
McCarty helps design and implement communication strategies to ensure various forms of media and publications are developed and produced at the highest quality.
Reed is an integral part of multiple facets of digital publishing and scholarly work, including KU’s publishing program, KU ScholarWorks, and KU Editors.
Outstanding Librarian Awards
The Anschutz-Budig Award recognizes exceptional professional performance, in particular highlighting a new project or initiative that moves beyond assigned job duties. Tami Albin, Associate Librarian in the Center for Faculty Initiatives and Engagement, and Elspeth Healey, Special Collections Curator at Spencer Research Library, were honored with Anschutz-Budig Awards this year.
Albin’s work in the Makerspace was celebrated for exemplifying creativity, leadership, and collaboration.
Healey was honored for demonstrating extraordinary professional performance marked by exceptional instructional efforts and innovative partnerships.
Distinguished Librarian Award
The Gretchen and Gene A. Budig Distinguished Librarian Award was endowed by the Budigs in 2001 and is given annually to a library faculty member who demonstrates meritorious professional performance and service throughout their career. Sara E. Morris, Head of Collections Strategy and Development, was recognized with the award for her excellence in professional performance, service, scholarship, and reputation, with a resume that includes 19 peer-reviewed articles and numerous invited publications, papers, and presentations.
Promotion & Tenure
The libraries also recognized three faculty members who achieved promotion and tenure in the past year: Carmen Orth-Alfie, graduate engagement & business librarian and Erin Wolfe, digital initiatives librarian, were promoted to Associate Librarian and awarded tenure. Jamene Brooks-Kieffer, data services librarian and coordinator of digital scholarship, was promoted to Librarian.
Special Initiatives Fund Recipients
The Mary McCorison Rosenbloom Special Initiatives Fund allows the libraries to identify and fill a practical, visible need for improvements to the libraries' service to faculty, staff and students.
This year, two sets of recipients were awarded special initiative funds: Amber Ovsak, Owen Murphy, and Sarah McCall for a project expanding the work of the Center for Undergraduate Initiatives and Engagement; and Orth-Alfie for an information literacy and library instruction project.
“We are so fortunate to have such a talented and dynamic team,” said Carol Smith, Dean of KU Libraries. “The amazing collaboration and teamwork happening throughout the libraries is a joy to see. It’s an honor to recognize these colleagues’ dedication and all the ways they make the KU Libraries an essential destination for learning and research.
KU Libraries house 5.8 million items in six campus locations and host 1.2 million visits per year, with 3 million articles accessed online. With a history of advancing open scholarship, KU Libraries’ work currently includes the digital publication of 61 open journals, hosting nearly 30,000 items in KU ScholarWorks.