Leadership changed at the iSchool this spring. Dr. Alan Rubel, who joined the faculty in 2010, will serve as iSchool director for the next three-year term. Dr. Rubel’s research interests are in information ethics, policy, and law, focusing on information privacy and security, surveillance, and algorithmic decision-making. He is also a faculty member in UW’s Center for Law, Society & Justice, where he has served as director for the past two years, a member of the History of Medicine & Bioethics department, faculty affiliate of the UW Law School, and steering committee member of the Holtz Center for Science, Technology & Society. In 2018-19 he was a visiting scholar at Delft Technological University (Netherlands). His book, Algorithms & Autonomy: The Ethics of Automated Decision Systems will be published (open access) by Cambridge University Press in May 2021.
Outgoing director, Dr. Kyung-Sun Kim, held the position during particularly dynamic years. First, Dr. Kim helped the iSchool navigate its new relationships within the School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences (CDIS), including hiring six faculty members and launching a second master’s degree program. As CDIS relationships were taking shape, the COVID-19 pandemic began. Dr. Kim then turned her attention to the considerable effort of ensuring the school’s operations continued in a manner that was safe for students, faculty, and staff. Thank you for leading the iSchool toward the light at the end of the tunnel, Dr. Kim!