SILS Names New Dean

Posted on Feb. 8, 2024

UNC has hired Jeffrey Bardzell of Pennsylvania State University as its new dean of the School of Information and Library Science.

Bardzell, currently associate dean for faculty and graduate affairs in the College of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State, will begin working at Carolina April 1.

Bardzell will succeed Gary Marchionini, who is retiring as dean Feb. 29 and said he would rejoin the faculty. (See “SILS Dean to Return to Faculty,” September/October 2023 Review.)

Bardzell’s research examines human-computer interaction and design. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers and has been awarded nearly $13 million in external grants. As associate dean at Penn State, Bardzell works with 75 full-time faculty and supports more than 2,000 combined undergraduate and graduate students. He joined Penn State in 2020.

“Jeff joins SILS during record growth in enrollment and grant funding and is poised to continue its success,” Provost Chris Clemens said in a campuswide email.

Before joining Penn State, Bardzell was a professor and director of human-computer interaction design at the School of Informatics at Indiana University. He also held visiting professorships at Shih Chien University in Taiwan, and Aarhus University in Denmark.

SILS is ranked second in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.