NCSU Libraries Focus Online
Volume 25 number 2 - Winter 2005
NCSU Libraries Taps First Cyma Rubin Libraries Fellow
By Anna Dahlstein, External Relations
NCSU Libraries Fellow Catherine Pellegrino has been named the first Cyma Rubin
Libraries Fellow. As such, she will benefit from a professional development
stipend supported by annual income from the Cyma Rubin Endowment for
the NCSU Libraries Fellows Program. At a reception on October 7, 2004,
Friends of the Library members and special guests gathered at the D. H. Hill
Library to hear Vice Provost and Director of Libraries Susan K. Nutter's announcement
of the first Cyma Rubin Libraries Fellow. The evening's ceremonies were interrupted
by a false fire alarm in the D. H. Hill Library, but attendees regrouped outside
and continued the celebration.
Cyma Rubin, an NC State graduate and vice president of the Friends of the
Library Board of Directors, established the endowment fund in fall 2003. Following
a call for support from former Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, additional donors
responded with generous contributions. Rubin explained her motivation in funding
the endowment:
"Today, the NCSU Libraries is not the library I knew as a student. It
has moved to the cutting edge of technology and its future has no limitations.
To enhance and assist in the execution of planning for the future, it needs
Fellows. When the NCSU Libraries created the first 'named Fellow' endowment,
I knew that the Libraries had the ability to attract the best and the brightest
of library school graduates. It was an honor to be asked to be part of this
innovative development."
Pellegrino, deeply honored to be selected for the named position, explained
the importance of the support it will bring:
"The ability to travel to conferences and training seminars is essential
to building a career as a new librarian--it's how you meet other professionals,
establish connections, and learn more about the latest developments in the
field. The generous professional development stipend is one of the things that
really set the Fellows Program apart from a regular entry-level job."
Pellegrino not only shows great promise as an academic librarian, but she
also shares Rubin's keen interest in the arts. In addition to receiving an
M.S.L.S. from UNC-Chapel Hill, Pellegrino holds advanced degrees in music theory
from Yale University [see "New Personnel"]. She has played
in orchestras for various musicals, Gilbert and Sullivan operettas, and a summer-stock
theater company.
Rubin is a longtime participant and supporter of the performing and visual
arts. She is president of the Business of Entertainment, Inc., an independent
entertainment production company, and has produced a Tony Award-winning Broadway
musical, feature films, and television documentaries, one of which received
an Emmy Award. Rubin is also the curator, writer, and producer for the exhibition Capture
the Moment: The Pulitzer Prize Photographs, which enjoyed an enormously
successful run at the NCSU Libraries in 2003. She received an honorary doctorate
of fine arts from North Carolina State University, as well as a Distinguished
Alumni Award, in 2003.
The NCSU Libraries Fellows Program addresses the need to develop the next
generation of leaders in the academic library field. To date, a total of twenty-four
librarians have been NCSU Libraries Fellows. Of these, 95 percent have gone
on to pursue successful careers in academic librarianship at the NCSU Libraries
or other research institutions.
For information on contributing to the Cyma Rubin Endowment for the NCSU Libraries
Fellows Program or establishing a new endowment, please call Jim Mulvey at
(919) 513-3339 or send an electronic-mail message to
.
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