PITT'S SCHOOL OF INFORMATION SCIENCES DEAN TO STEP DOWN

PITTSBURGH, March 28 -- Toni Carbo, dean of the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences (SIS) for the past 16 years, has announced that she will step down from that position, effective June 30, 2002. She intends to return to research and teaching, as a professor at SIS and the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

"Under Toni Carbo, the School of Information Sciences has attained and held a position of excellence nationally and internationally," said Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg. "Her contribution and dedication to the School are deeply appreciated, and it is reassuring to know that she will continue to be an active and contributing member of our University community."

Pitt Provost James V. Maher commended Carbo for her willingness to extend beyond traditional boundaries. "Dean Carbo developed numerous joint ventures with other schools and departments at the University," Maher said. "She also served on a variety of committees, including Planning and Budgeting and the Information Technology Steering Committee, and for this I am grateful."

During Carbo's tenure as dean, the School of Information Sciences has seen enrollment increase to nearly 900 students and recognition for its Master of Science in Telecommunications, its telecommunications track in the Ph.D. program, and its Master of Library and Information Science, which ranks among the top three in the nation. During her deanship, SIS obtained its first endowed chair, the Doreen E. Boyce Chair of Library and Information Science, with funding from the Buhl Foundation; developed the first information ethics program; and realized a strong faculty and research program.

Carbo is past-president of the American Society for Information Science and Technology and the Association for Library and Information Science Education. She was a member of the US Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure and served as a US representative to the G-7 Round Table of Business Leaders to the G-7 Information Society Conference in 1995 in Brussels. Carbo has been executive director of the US National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, which advises the President and Congress on policy and planning in the information field. Her work in the information field includes extensive experience with information service producers and users and in research in the areas of information policy and use.

Carbo has extensive international expertise. She is co-chairing a University of Pittsburgh-European Union conference on e-government this year, and chaired the US delegation to the general council meeting of the UNESCO General Information Programme (PGI) in 1984, serving as a member of the 1982 delegation. She also served as a member of the planning committee for the first UNESCO Infoethics Conference in Monaco, in 1997. She was co-chair of the US National Committee for the International Federation for Information and Documentation (FID), served as a member of FID's Council, and chaired FID's Infostructures and Policies Committee, which oversaw FID's role in the Global Information Alliance (GIA).

Carbo is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Institute of Information Scientists (IIS), the Special Libraries Association, and the National Federation of Abstracting and Information Services (NFAIS), and in 1997 received The Myles Conrad Memorial Award from NFAIS for achievement in the field of information science and distinguished service to the federation. She received the Distinguished Service Award from the Pennsylvania Library association in 1995, was named to the American Library Association's Fiftieth Anniversary Honor Roll of Legislative and Grass Roots Library Champions, and she received the YWCA Tribute to Women Award for Science & Technology in 2000.

Carbo has a bachelor's degree from Brown University and master's and doctoral degrees from Drexel University. She was selected by Drexel as one of the 100 most distinguished of its 60,000 alumni and was awarded its Centennial Medal. She also was a member of the Board of the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council for five years.

Author of more than 100 articles, speeches, and technical reports in the information sciences, Carbo is the editor of The International Information and Library Review (IILR), published by Academic Press, and has served on the editorial boards of several publications.

Carbo said: "While this was a very difficult decision for me to make, I believe it was the right one for the University, the School, and for me, personally. I have enjoyed my years as dean and the opportunity to work with such outstanding individuals. Together we have moved the School to a new level of excellence. I am excited about the opportunity to teach information ethics and information policy and to conduct research again."

A search committee will be formed in the near future with the goal of identifying the next dean by Spring 2002.

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