Thanks to the generosity of the family, colleagues and friends of the late Nina Jensen, the Director’s Scholarship for Excellence will continue in fall 2016. Five $1,000 scholarships will be awarded in her memory to new MLIS students.

Thanks to the generosity of the family, colleagues and friends of the late Nina Jensen, the Director’s Scholarship for Excellence will continue in fall 2016. Five $1,000 scholarships will be awarded in her memory to new students beginning the entirely online Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree program at the San José State University (SJSU) School of Information (iSchool).

Jensen earned her MLIS degree from SJSU in 1994 and was a librarian for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at Folsom State Prison. She passed away in September 2015.

With the goal of encouraging students to explore the many facets of information technology and the rapidly expanding information profession, the scholarship application requires incoming MLIS students to create a Pinterest board highlighting either why the student is pursuing a career as an information professional or what the student sees as the future of the information profession. Past student winners have used the social media platform to showcase their creativity in conveying the theme of their boards, mining the Internet for images, quotations, programming ideas, videos, articles, and other media.

Spring 2016 Director’s Scholarship for Excellence recipient Audry Barriault used the pins on her board to create a rap explaining “how public libraries affect residents and how librarians can and should impact the experience of patrons.” Fall 2015 Director’s Scholarship for Excellence recipient Carina Langstraat used her board to demonstrate how librarians “regularly stand up to those who want to restrict our access to information–and that takes courage.”

The SJSU iSchool has put together a collection of pins from past scholarship recipients’ Pinterest scholarship applications that gives a glimpse into why they want to be an information professional. For example, one pin reads, “I have been working in libraries since 1999, and even I am still learning the amazing diversity of librarians. This is one of the main reasons to dive in and get the degree. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is also never going to be yours unless you ask. Or research. Or go to school. So let’s do this. Let the future begin.”

Students admitted for fall 2016 who have an undergraduate GPA of at least 3.5 are eligible to apply for the Director’s Scholarship for Excellence. The application form will open on February 1, 2016, and applications will be accepted until May 1, 2016. According to the application description, “Entries will be judged based on innovative use of the Pinterest social media platform to share information, organize ideas, and create engaging visual content.”

The Director’s Scholarship for Excellence, like many SJSU iSchool scholarships, is funded by donations. To support student scholarships, please visit the donation web page.