ALA announces 2025-2026 Spectrum Scholars

CHICAGO — The American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services awarded 2025 Spectrum Scholarships to 60 exceptional students pursuing graduate degrees in library and information studies. Since 1997, ALA has awarded more than 1,600 Spectrum Scholarships. In the most recent application cycle, the Spectrum Scholarship Program received four times as many applications as there were available scholarships, and the majority of this year’s applicants were deemed highly fundable. A prestigious committee of jurors selected this year’s Spectrum Scholars based on their commitment to community building, leadership potential, and planned contributions to making social justice part of everybody's everyday work in LIS.

The 2025-2026 Spectrum Scholars are:

Omar Al-Samadi, University of Toronto

ange gabriel garaygay baldado, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign

Robin L. Ballard, Louisiana State University

Gianna Brassil, San Jose State University

Brianna Brunson, Queens College – City University of New York

Hazel Carias, San Jose State University

Morgan E Cassell, Emporia State University

Matthieu Castillo, University of South Florida

Rubis Castro, University of South Florida

Sophia Chimbanda, University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill

Sarah Flora Chocron, University of Toronto

Karina Dominguez, San Jose State University

Riqué Simón Lee Duhamell Escobedo, University of Arizona

Khalia Dunn, Louisiana State University

Sireice Edwards, Syracuse University

Mayree Ellis, Louisiana State University

Veronica Escamilla, North Carolina Central University

Roux Fernandez Melguizo, Louisiana State University

Vanessa "Iridian" Garcia, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign

Mariana Guerrero, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign

Mirna Gutierrez Saucedo, San Jose State University

Lazerric Hartzog, Dominican University

Sarina Haryanto, University of Washington

Vahn N. Henderson, University of Alabama

Jaclyn Hernandez, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign

Amber Nicole Hilton, San Jose State University

Hope Houston, Dominican University

Wei Huang, San Jose State University

Ysanne-Georgette Raye Johnson, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign

Adam Yu Johnson, Queens College – City University of New York

Megan Ariel Johnson, Dominican University

Akeyla Briana Jordan, University of South Carolina

Shaheen Kapambwe, Simmons University

Eunjoo Kim, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign

Keana Lee, State University of New York – Albany

Jean Lin, University of California – Los Angeles

Mavey Ma, San Jose State University

Rujul Majmundar, Rutgers University

Lily Martinez, University of Southern Mississippi

Summer Matthes, Indiana University

Gabrielle Moore, Chickasaw Tribal Member, University of Oklahoma

Christina Newhard, San Jose State University

Fátima Ortega Barba, University of Alabama

Zeel Parikh, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign

Irene Go-eun Park, University of Maryland

Nikka Peredo, University of Alberta

Brianna Perez, Valdosta State University

Nathaniel Allen Torres Pila, University of Illinois – Urbana-Champaign

Winnifred Yaa Quarshie, University of Alberta

Isabelle Chen Rice, Louisiana State University

Camille S. Rose, Chicago State University

Ash Smith, Louisiana State University

Maria Isabel Stull, University of Missouri – Columbia

Catherine Lily Tang, San Jose State University

Oly Venzon, San Jose State University

Gabriel Vidal, University of California – Los Angeles

David Villeda, University of Maryland

Amelia Wimbish, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

Katrina Greene Wood, North Carolina Central University

Ruby Zhu, San Jose State University

The Spectrum Scholarship Program funds scholarships through its endowment and the generous contributions of individuals and organizations whose donations support named scholarships in the Spectrum Family of Funds. For 2025–2026, scholarships have been awarded in honor of the following supporters: Leo Albert, the Calloway family, Louise Giles, William R. Gordon, Satia Marshall Orange, Miriam Tuliao, and Dr. Betty J. Turock.

Scholarships have also been awarded from sponsoring organizations including ProQuest, Part of Clarivate; OCLC (OCLC/Core Scholar); Northern California & Nevada Medical Library Group; National Library of Medicine; the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL); the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC); Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA); and the Rainbow Round Table (RRT) of the American Library Association.

ALA offers thanks to the 2025 Spectrum Scholarship Jury for their work:

Ida Martinez – Co-Chair (Science Librarian at Wayne State University), Alicia Zuniga – Co-Chair (Public Health & Science Librarian at California State University, Sacramento), Liana Acevedo (Public Services Manager, Sacramento Public Library), Saegan Anderson, Essy Barroso-Ramirez (Research and Social Sciences Librarian, San Jose State University), Buenaventura Basco (Librarian, University of Central Florida), Bradley Bibbs (Adult Services Librarian at Aurora Public Library District), Nikole Brown (Branch Manager, Saint Louis County Library), Keno Catabay (Principal Cataloger, University of Colorado Boulder), Carol Choi (Data Reference and Collections Librarian, New York University), Leah Choi (College of Natural Resources & Sciences Librarian, Cal Poly Humboldt), Helen Christian (Literacy Specialist, Alameda County Library), Janin Escobedo- Garcia, Ramón García (Undergraduate Success Librarian, Southern Methodist University), Meera Garud (Instructor and School Library Coordinator, University of Hawaii at Manoa), Michael Gutierrez (Directory of Library Operations & Access Services, Minnesota State University Mankato), Christy Hogan (Collection Development Librarian at University of Alabama at Birmingham), Jasmine Kirby – Lead Juror (Online Learning Librarian, Old Dominion University), Maria Lee (Librarian, Columbus Metropolitan Library), Tina Liu (Cataloguing Librarian, McGill University), Alicia Karina Long (Visiting Assistant Instructor, University of South Florida, School of Information), Anthony Martinez (Student, UIUC), Anjelica T. Rufus-Barnes – Lead Juror (Reference Librarian at Prospect Heights Public Library District), Andrea Serna (Student Success Librarian, Tufts University), Margarita Carrillo Shawcross (Teaching and Learning Librarian, University of Northern Colorado), Joy Shioshita (Librarian, El Cerrito), Isabel Soto-Luna (Business Librarian at University of Nebraska Omaha), Julia Stone (Open Scholarship Librarian at Portland State University), Jasmine C. Sykes-Kunk (Head of Research Services at John Hay Library, Brown University).

Through the Spectrum Scholarship Program, ALA advances racial equity by connecting new generations of racially and ethnically diverse librarians with a network committed to mutual support, advancing one another’s leadership, and making social justice part of everybody's everyday work.

The Spectrum Scholarship Program actively recruits and provides scholarships to American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black/African American, Hispanic/Latino, Middle Eastern and North African, and/or Native Hawaiian/Other Pacific Islander students.

To learn more about the Spectrum Scholarship Program, please contact ALA’s Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services at [email protected] or visit www.ala.org/spectrum. The application period for 2026 Spectrum Scholarships will open in September 2025.