M Clark, 2024 School of Library and Information Science student, was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue a Masters Degree in Indigenous Studies with a Pacific Islands focus at the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. As part of their degree, they will also be working to obtain an internship with one of the major galleries, libraries, archives, or museums of Wellington, New Zealand.
"The Fulbright and the degree I will be earning as part of my award will foster my formalized education in Pacific Islands Indigenous cultures and histories that will support my career as a Pacific Studies Librarian," said Clark. "This career will allow me to promote culturally informed collections management in libraries and to foster positive experiences and opportunities for Pacific Islanders through library use."
According to Clark, they aim to learn more about Indigenous Knowledge Organization Systems (IKOS) that diverge from the United State's common Dewey Decimal organizational structure and offer synergistic opportunities for the preservation of human knowledge.
"In my own department, the School of Library and Information Science, my professors and advisors have been nothing short of supportive of my culturally-specific career goals and interests," said Clark. "It was the support and freedom I have been given in that program that inspired me to take seriously the possibility of working as a librarian abroad, or visiting the South Pacific to inform my future career."
Clark will begin her next academic journey in New Zealand, as a Fulbright Scholar, this fall.