Tallahassee, FL. — Florida State University (FSU) Provost and Executive Vice President Lawrence G. Abele announced today that retiring Dean Jane B. Robbins of the School of Information Studies would be succeeded by Dr. Lawrence C. Dennis on Dec. 10. Robbins has been dean of the School of Information Studies at FSU since 1994.

The majority of Robbins’ distinguished career in library education has been spent serving as a chief educator-dean of the School of Library and Information Science at Louisiana State University and director of the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before coming to FSU. Under Robbins, an innovative national leader in the field of libraries and information, the School of Information studies at FSU pioneered online education and is widely acknowledged as one of the nation’s top programs in library and information studies.

Robbins earned her doctorate from the University of Maryland (1972) and her M.L.S. from Western Michigan University (Lefevre Outstanding Graduate Award, 1966). Among other honors, she received the Beta Phi Mu Award (1994) and the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) Contribution to Library and Information Science Education Award (2000). She has contributed to the field of librarianship as president of ALISE, president of the Wisconsin Library Association, on the board of the Florida Library Association, and for several terms as counselor on the governing body of the 65,000 member American Library Association.

Dennis received his bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Michigan in 1974 and his doctorate in nuclear physics from the University of Virginia in 1979. Dennis is currently the associate vice president for academic affairs and director of the Office of Distributed and Distance Learning (ODDL) at FSU. At ODDL, Dennis focused on helping faculty members use technology to improve teaching, bring their degree programs online, and share technological resources with K-12 schools. Dennis has won an FSU University Teaching Award and two State of Florida Teaching Incentive Program Awards.

Dennis previously served as a physics professor and acting director of the Supercomputer Computations Research Institute. He directed the international group of scientists who designed and implemented the computer and software systems for the CEBAF Large Acceptance Spectrometer (CLAS) in Newport News, Va. The CLAS nuclear physics experiments were the first in the world to produce more than a terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) of data in a single day. His work with organizing huge amounts of data to meet the needs of specific user groups attracted him to the knowledge base of library and information studies.

Dennis described the students, faculty and staff at the School of Information Studies as “an innovative, enthusiastic group of people with the vision to build on their tradition of leadership in education and research.”

“His respect for information service through libraries and other agencies, as well as his commitment to the new world of information technology, make him the right person at the right time for this position,” said Dean Robbins, delighted with the choice of Dennis.
The School of Information Studies was founded in 1947 and now offers bachelor’s, master’s, specialist and doctoral degrees.