SILS and SDSS faculty were informed of the decision on Wednesday at two independent school meetings before it was announced publicly at 1:04 p.m. Thursday, via an email from Chancellor Lee Roberts and Interim Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Jim Dean to the UNC community.
According to a Q and A webpage launched by the Office of the Provost, a formal timeline for the consolidation is still to be determined, but the administration does not expect any changes before the end of the 2025-26 academic year.
“Both SILS and SDSS bring distinct strengths and areas of excellence to Carolina — technical expertise, humanistic inquiry and a deep understanding of the societal implications of emerging technologies,” Roberts and Dean wrote. “The new school will grow and amplify the impact of research and scholarship, foster interdisciplinary collaboration and expand opportunities to respond to the challenges of our time.”
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SILS opened in 1931 as the UNC School of Library Science before being renamed in 1987. The School offers an undergraduate major in Information Science, a minor in Information Systems, multiple dual bachelor’s-graduate degree programs and six graduate programs in both information and library sciences.
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SDSS launched in 2022. It currently offers a B.S. in data science and a minor in risk management. A B.A. in data science is also offered via the UNC College of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Statistics and Operations Research.
Gary Price (gprice@gmail.com) is a librarian, writer, consultant, and frequent conference speaker based in the Washington D.C. metro area.
He earned his MLIS degree from Wayne State University in Detroit.
Price has won several awards including the SLA Innovations in Technology Award and Alumnus of the Year from the Wayne St. University Library and Information Science Program. From 2006-2009 he was Director of Online Information Services at Ask.com.
