Kathy Brennan and Emily Vardell, doctoral candidates at the UNC School of Information and Library Science, have been awarded Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Fellowships for 2017 from Beta Phi Mu International Library and Information Studies Honor Society. The $3,000 fellowships provide support for doctoral students who are working on their dissertations in library and information science, information studies, informatics, or a related field.
Beta Phi Mu announced the 2017 recipients at its business meeting and member reception on June 24, 2017, held in conjunction with the annual conference of the American Library Association (ALA).
Brennan's dissertation is titled “Loan Me the Money: How Cognitive Abilities and Financial Knowledge Influence Consumers' Online Searching Behaviors.” She will defend this summer.
Vardell successfully defended her disertation, "Health Insurance Literacy: How People Understand and Make Health Insurance Purchase Decisions," in May. Starting this fall, she will become an assistant professor at the School of Library and Information Management at Emporia State University.
