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Aurora Resident Earns Aurora University Leadership Award
AURORA, Ill. - Anne McKearn of Aurora received Aurora University’s 2008 Tony Olejnik Leadership Service Award at 115 th annual commencement ceremonies May 4.
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A catalog and reference librarian and archivist in AU’s Phillips Library, McKearn was honored for her leadership and commitment to excellence and positively shaping the lives of AU students.
Her citation and award were presented by Provost Andrew Manion.
The Board of Trustees established the Leadership Service Award in 2003 to honor a member of the AU faculty or staff whose professional and personal life has embodied the core values of the university.
In 2004, the award was renamed for the late Olejnik, longtime AU and George Williams College faculty member and administrator who was a living example of integrity, citizenship, continuous learning and excellence.
Manion said, “Anne McKearn’s colleagues consider her a great team member who always goes the extra mile and is exceptionally well organized, knowledgeable, and helpful.
“She works as hard or as long as it takes to finish any task relevant to the improvement of Aurora University and can often be found on campus to complete a project long after everyone else has left.
“Above all, she cares deeply about our students and believes that service to them is her most important professional activity,” Manion said.
McKearn’s expertise covers many areas at the library. Her work as a cataloger enables users to find every item in the library easily. She also is the system administrator for Voyager, the library’s cataloging system, and serves as the AU liaison to the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois.
As a reference librarian, she helps students with research and provides library user instruction to classes. She also is the university archivist and maintains artifacts, photos, and memorabilia of the university and scans photos for electronic storage.
In this capacity, she has helped many departments and individuals with special projects. Serving as the library liaison for natural science, mathematics and business, she works with faculty to build the collection of materials in these areas.
With many technological advances in the library field, she has continually educated herself so she can use the latest technology to better serve students. Additionally, she has trained many of the library’s student workers in the art of cataloging while modeling an exemplary work ethic for them.
Her list of service at Aurora University over the past decade demonstrates her dedication and commitment to the university. She serves on the faculty senate, providing a critical communication link between the library and the faculty.
During the North Central Association accreditation process in 2003, she created and maintained the resource room, which was vital to the success of the accreditation process.She did the same for this year’s accreditation visit from the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education and the Illinois State Board of Education.
She volunteers at Music by the Lake summer concert series and serves students at the Thanksgiving banquet each year. In the broader community, she contributes her talents as a concerned citizen by serving as an election judge for the Aurora Election Commission and as a precinct captain for the Democratic Party in Kane County.
McKearn earned a bachelor’s degree from Ohio State University and a master’s degree in library science from Rosary College. She joined Aurora University in 1984 as head of access services in the library.
In 1987, she took time off to adopt and raise her children. She returned to a part-time schedule in 1996, working nights and weekends at the reference desk so she could home school her son Nathan, who is now a junior at Aurora University.
In 1999, she returned to a full-time schedule and remains a permanent fixture in the library on the weekends.
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