IACRL Committees

Standing Committee term lengths: "Members of standing committees shall be appointed for a three year term and are eligible for reappointment. A member of each committee shall be appointed by the Vice President/President Elect to serve as chair for a term of one year, to begin July 1."

For descriptions and more information on standing committees, see Article X of the IACRL Bylaws.

Committee Member Library/Organization Email address
Term ends

Awards

Sarah McHone-Chase (Chair)
Aurora University smchone-chase@aurora.edu
6/30/2025
Melanie Emerson School of the Art Institute of Chicago memerson@saic.edu  6/30/2025
Michelle Nielsen Ott Bradley University mnielsenott@bradley.edu
6/30/2025
Joshua Sopiarz Governors State University jsopiarz@govst.edu 6/30/2025
Nessa Vahedian Khezerlou   nessavahedian@gmail.com  6/30/2026

Communications

Chair -  VACANT       
Robin Harris Northeastern Illinois University r-harris14@neiu.edu 6/30/2025
Lori Noe Frontier Community College noel@iecc.edu
6/30/2025
Janis Shearer University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign jshearer@illinois.edu
6/30/2025
Dee Anna Phares Northern Illinois University dphares@niu.edu
6/30/2026

Conference and Continuing Education

Joshua Newport (Chair)
Illinois State University cnewpo@ilstu.edu
6/30/2025
Tish Hayes Moraine Valley Community College hayesl45@morainevalley.edu 6/30/2026
Valerie Moore Prairie State College vmoore@prairiestate.edu
6/30/2025
Christina Norton Bradley University cnorton@fsmail.bradley.edu  6/30/2026
Amy Odwarka Eastern Illinois University aodwarka@eiu.edu  6/30/2026
Sanga Sung University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign ssung@illinois.edu  6/30/2025
Olia Sweiss Midwestern Career College Oliasweiss@gmail.com  6/30/2026

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion 

Jacqueline (Jackie) Zook (Chair) Northeastern Illinois University
jjzook2@neiu.edu
6/30/2025
Jeannette Bruno City Colleges of Chicago jbruno7@ccc.edu
6/30/2026
Donna Goodwyn Elmhurst University donnamg@elmhurst.edu
6/30/2025
Jade Kastel Western Illinois University jm-kastel@wiu.edu  6/30/2025
Rob Morrison National Louis University rob.morrison@nl.edu
6/30/2026

Membership

Wendell Johnson (Chair) Northern Illinois University wjohnso1@niu.edu 
6/30/2026
Melanie Emerson School of the Art Institute of Chicago memerson@saic.edu
6/30/2025
Gwen Gregory Northern Illinois University Libraries ggregory@niu.edu
6/30/2025
Blanca Hernandez (he/him/his) Erikson Institute bhernandez@erikson.edu
6/30/2025
Melissa Merlos Harper College mmerlos@harpercollege.edu
6/30/2025
Amy Odwarka Eastern Illinois University aodwarka@eiu.edu  6/30/2026
Jacqueline (Jackie) Zook Northeastern Illinois University jjzook2@neiu.edu  6/30/2025

Nominations

Sarah McHone-Chase (Chair)
Aurora University smchone-chase@aurora.edu
6/30/2025
Eric Edwards Illinois State Library eedwards@ilsos.gov
6/30/2025
Wendell Johnson Northern Illinois University wjohnson1@niu.edu  6/30/2026
Michele McDaniel Eastern Illinois University mkmcdaniel@eiu.edu
6/30/2025

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