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PITTSBURGH-Stephen Almagno, professor of library and information
science in the School of Information Sciences (SIS) at the
University of Pittsburgh who helped establish the School's
information ethics course in 1990, will retire from the
University this month to assume leadership of the worldwide
education programs of the Franciscan Order of the Roman
Catholic Church. Almagno, a Franciscan friar, will be headquartered
in Rome. Almagno joined the University of Pittsburgh
in 1972 as a visiting lecturer and became a SIS professor
in 1980. His major research and teaching have been in
the area of historical bibliography, the humanities, and
information ethics (IE). With SIS Dean Toni Carbo, he
established an IE lecture series in 1989, and together
they introduced a course in IE in 1990. Almagno has taught
the IE course twice a year since then. He also led the
effort to establish an Information Ethics Fund, which
supports the Information Ethics Fellowship, a student
scholarship program established in 1996, and the Ethics
Web site, www.sis.pitt.edu/~ethics.
Almagno earned the Bachelor of Science degree in philosophy
from Immaculate Conception Seminary in 1961, and the Master
of Library Science degree from the University of Pittsburgh
in 1965. The author or editor of 18 books and monographs,
Almagno is an internationally recognized scholar. In addition
to numerous articles, contributions to books, and book
reviews in English, he has translated works from Italian
and French to English, and from English to French and
Italian. He also is highly regarded as a teacher, advisor,
and mentor. Countless students and colleagues have attested
to the major impact he has had on their lives, either
through his course on information ethics or counsel and
advice he has provided.
This fall, the Ethics of Electronic Information in the
21st Century (EEI21) Conference at the University of Memphis
was dedicated to Almagno. He was the keynote speaker,
delivering an address titled "Information Ethics:
the Duty, Privilege, and Challenge of Educating Information
Professionals." Additionally, the papers presented
at the conference will be published as a Festschrift honoring
Almagno upon his retirement. Contributions to the IE Fund
are being sought to honor Almagno and to continue his
legacy.
"This recognition of Professor Almagno is well-deserved,"
said Carbo. "I have received a great number of positive
comments about Professor Almagno over the years. Many
of his former students tell me that he changed their lives
through the information ethics course. We are very pleased
that he is being honored in this way." |
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