Congratulations to Professor Rebekah Willett who was recently awarded a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorship. This award is among the most prestigious granted by the university and is awarded to recognize distinguished scholarship as well as outstanding efforts in teaching and service. “To be honored with this award is deeply meaningful to me,” said Willett. “Not only was I born in the Vilas neighborhood, my great-grandfather chose to immigrate to Madison, because he wanted his descendents to have access to an excellent public university.”
“Dr. Willett is an incredible faculty member.” says iSchool Department Chair Alan Rubel. “Her publication record is impressive, her teaching is superb, and her extensive service to the department includes completely updating our PhD program. In addition,she has built a strong research program with the Madison Public Libraries, ensuring a strong relationship between the iSchool and the public library, and bringing cutting edge research to public services of the city of Madison.”
As part of the award Willett will receive $75,000 in flexible research funding to be spent over five years. “The funding will enable me to complete work I am currently leading with partners in seven countries, investigating families’ experiences of media during the pandemic,” shared Willett. “ I also plan to use the award to start a new project on the KidTech industry, working to understand what it means to be a child in the metaverse.”
We are so proud to have you as part of the iSchool Professor Willett!