Yolanda Cooper promoted to dean and university librarian for Emory

By Wade Moricle | July 12, 2019

[reprinted from the Emory Report]

Yolanda Cooper has been promoted to dean and university librarian for Emory University, effective July 1. Cooper has served as Emory’s university librarian since 2014.

“Yolanda’s leadership and vision have been essential to advancing Emory’s academic eminence,” says Dwight A. McBride, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. “She has worked with library staff to strategically nurture scholarship and research, pathbreaking discovery and curricular innovation; cultivate intersections between research, technology and pedagogical experimentation; and increase connections between communities at Emory and beyond.”

As dean and university librarian, Cooper will continue to lead the Emory Libraries in facilitating the research and learning of faculty, students and staff. Since 2017 she has served as a member of the Council of Deans, through which she will continue to provide insight and partnership to the provost and academic leaders of Emory’s nine schools and colleges.

For the past year she has served as board president of the Association of Southeastern Research Libraries and served as co-chair of the search advisory committee for the vice provost of diversity and inclusion and chief diversity officer, which has brought Carol E. Henderson to Emory.

Prior to joining Emory, Cooper served as acting dean and university librarian at the University of Miami Libraries. Her background also includes work with research library systems at Indiana University Bloomington, the University of Virginia, the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Illinois, Urbana. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master of library science degree, both from Indiana University.

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Kat Hart, Head of Electronic and Continuing Resources, Emory Libraries

By Wade Moricle | July 12, 2019

Kat Hart enjoys organizing data, but she also loves to knit.

Kat Hart is the new head of electronic and continuing resources in Emory Libraries. She spent the past nine and a half years as the electronic and continuing resources librarian at Georgia State University, working closely with the University System of Georgia’s Alma migration and OpenAthens implementation. Previously, she was the ordering manager in the Serials department at the University of Georgia’s main library for five years. She also has been a freelance artist and graphic designer.

A native of Atlanta, GA, Kat earned her bachelor’s degree in graphic design at the Savannah College of Arts and Design and her master’s degree in library and information science from Valdosta State.

Kat enjoys organizing data, but she also loves to knit.

“Everyone on my team has been super nice,” says Kat. “It’s a bit overwhelming to get to know the collection and attain the institutional knowledge necessary to do my job, but my team has been supportive.

You can reach her at kat [dot] hart [at] emory [dot] edu.

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Pavan Kale, Product Manager, Research Solutions

By Wade Moricle | July 12, 2019

“I am enjoying the nuances of helping researchers use AWS in their domains.” – Pavan Kale

Pavan Kale (pronounced puh-ONE) is a new product manager in Research Solutions for the ‘AWS at Emory’ service that was launched for research and teaching faculty.

Before coming to Emory, he spent a year as a product manager at Equifax. Additionally, Pavan worked for five years as a technical project manager at Automating Data Processing (ADP) and five years as a business analyst and project manager with Northrop Grumman, where he worked on a disease surveillance project as a contractor with the CDC.

Born in Hyderabad, India, Pavan earned his bachelor’s degree in math from Bangalore University and his master’s degree in information technology from Virginia Tech. He has certifications as a PMP, AWS solutions architect associate, AWS cloud practitioner, and scrum master.

Pavan is a runner of half and full marathons. He is also an avid squash player.

“I love it here. It is nice to transition from a corporate to a university setting,” says Pavan. “I am enjoying the nuances of helping researchers use AWS in their domains.”

You can reach him at pavan [dot] kale [at] emory [dot] edu.

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Seema Sharma, Project Manager, PMO

By Wade Moricle | July 12, 2019

“I am loving this project management team. The interaction, responsiveness, and all the smiles have been a very pleasant change for me.” – Seema Sharma

Seema Sharma is a new project manager in the Project Management Office. Before coming to Emory, Seema was a project manager for eight years at National Cash Register (NCR). In her 17-year NCR career, she also held the titles of developer, support analyst, and program manager.

Born and raised in New Delhi, India, she earned her bachelor’s degree in science at the Delhi University in New Delhi and her master’s degree in computer applications at the Institute of Management Technology in Ghaziabad, India. She is also a PMP and a certified scrum master and product owner.

Seema has two boys, the oldest of whom is a senior at Georgia Tech. She also loves cooking (her speciality is shahi paneer), Indian music, and Bollywood.

“I am loving this project management team,” says Seema. “The interaction, responsiveness, and all the smiles have been a very pleasant change for me.”

You can reach her at seema [dot] sharma [at] emory [dot] edu.

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Pet of the Week: Benny the Rescue

By Pat Culpepper | July 12, 2019

I first saw a picture of Benny–then called Mendell–on the Southeast Corgi Rescue FaceBook page in 2015. I felt an immediate connection with the sweet face staring back at me, but it was too soon. Just a few weeks earlier, I had said goodbye to my longtime corgi companion, Melvin. Mendell was clearly a senior dog with some health issues, so, I looked away. I thought of him over the coming days, but each time, I put him out of my mind. “When the time is right, the right dog will come along,” I told myself.

I spent the rest of that summer missing Melvin and trying to enjoy my newfound freedom. Melvin had required extra attention during the last year of his life, so why not take a break from the responsibility? It’s so much easier and less expensive to live life without a dog. No more vet bills. No more carrying Melvin up and down stairs that he could no longer navigate. No more planning my day and week around my geriatric dog. Yes, that made so much sense.

But my heart ached. I missed Melvin.

By mid-September I decided to complete a foster application with Southeast Corgi Rescue. I had been following them on FaceBook for a year or so. That’s where I had seen that picture of Mendell back in July–the one that tugged at my heartstrings. I figured I could foster a dog in need, help the organization, and perhaps find my next dog.

After checking my application and references, Southeast Corgi Rescue approved me to foster one of their dogs. Within a week or so, Walton, who ran the rescue at the time, asked me to foster a dog named Benny. Benny was currently in another foster home in Savannah undergoing treatment for heart worms. Once the heart-worm treatment was complete, he could be moved to a new foster home. Walton’s email explained that since the current foster-mom, Edith, had three dogs of her own, a new foster home with no other dogs would be better for Benny and also give Edith a much-needed break. Her email went on to say that Benny could come to me around October 17 and noted that a picture was attached.

I quickly scrolled to the bottom of the email, eager to get a look at Benny. And there it was, the picture of Mendell from July 16, the same one I had seen on FaceBook. “Isn’t that something,” I thought. What a coincidence that Walton should ask me to foster the very dog that I had felt so drawn to earlier.

As I anticipated Benny’s arrival, I learned more about him from Edith. A kind man in North Carolina found him one night in early summer, lying in the road during a thunderstorm. A trip to the vet revealed skin and ear infections and the presence of heart worms. When no owner came forward, the kind man decided to turn Benny over to Southeast Corgi Rescue so that he could get the treatment and care that he needed.

When Benny came to live with me in October, 2015, the vet estimated his age at 8-9 years. Despite all that he had been through, Benny quickly adjusted to his new foster home. He was immediately affectionate and playful, and quickly became confident, bossy, and talkative. He was, and is, wonderfully soft and cuddly. His favorite pastimes are eating, playing fetch, and sleeping. He loves people, but needs a strong leader to keep him from becoming too bossy, as is the case with many corgis.

After I arrived home with Benny on October 17, 2015, I sat down to review the folder containing his veterinary records. I noted when heart-worm treatments began and ended, which vaccines he had received, his weight, that his age was listed as unknown, that he was first called Buddy by the kind man who saved him, then Mendell, and eventually Benny. And then I noticed the date of his rescue on that stormy night in North Carolina. June 29, 2015–the same day as Melvin’s departure.

It was meant to be.

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LITS recent headlines and upcoming events

By Wade Moricle | July 12, 2019

Headlines & Events graphic banner

Recent LITS headlines:

Upcoming LITS events:

(go HERE for more information for each event)

  • July 18 – Event: IT Briefing, 10:15 am – noon, 4th Floor Auditorium, NDB
  • July 25 – Event: LEAF Ice Cream Social, 2:00 – 3:00 pm, Jones Room, Woodruff Library
  • August 7 – Event: LEAF Coffee Hour, 10:00 – 11:00 am, Jones Room, Woodruff Library
  • August 28 – Classes Begin
  • August 30 – September 1 – Event: Decatur Book Festival
  • September 12 – Event: LEAF Coffee Hour, 10:00 – 11:00 am, Calhoun Room, Health Science Library, optional tours available
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Shelton’s pool team wins title; headed to nationals in Las Vegas

By Wade Moricle | June 21, 2019
Photo of four men standing behind a pool table

Al Shelton (second from left) in 2014.

Al Shelton (senior application developer, ITSMO) is the captain of a 9-ball pool team that recently won a qualifying tournament for the chance to play for the World 9-Ball Championship. He and his team will be in Las Vegas, NV, on August 13-17, 2019, to try to bring the title to Georgia.

The team, named “Santa Says” because Al’s other pastime is being a professional Santa Claus, plays in the American Poolplayers Association (APA) out of Stars and Strikes in Cumming, GA, on Thursdays. They have been together as a team for about a year.

In the APA, players are described with a skill-level designation, similar to the way golf handicaps work, through which players of varying skill levels are able to play against one another competitively. Skill levels (SL) run from 1 (knows how to hold a cue) to 9 (grand master level). For reference, a skill level 8 won the 9-Ball world championship a couple years ago.

Side note: Al’s league has a SL-8 that, in 1995, won the Individual 9-Ball World Championship playing a SL-9 player. He won by winning the lag (when two players gently shoot their respective balls down the table and back up again, the player who gets their ball to stop closest to the head rail wins the first break of the match), breaking and running 9 racks in a row. His opponent never got to the table to shoot, all the opponent got to do was rack the balls. After his win, he was banned from APA for 10 years as they considered him a professional level player after that performance.

Santa Says (L to R): Michael (SL-4), Cori (SL-3), Baby Jaxson (SL-0), Al (SL-6), Danielle (SL-3), Baby Victoria (SL-0), Kevin (SL-4), Mitchell (SL-3), Joe (SL-5), and Jason (SL-5)

Al is an SL-6 and his team is also comprised of two SL-5s, two SL-4s, and three SL-3s.

The team comes from a variety of professions. In the order listed on the right: Bartender/manager, hair stylist/professional nanny, IT developer/Santa, bartender/event planner, IT/telephone systems, denture maker, Spanish and Portuguese professor, and remodeler.

About the game

In a 9-Ball match, each match consists of five players playing five sets (1 player = 1 set). The skill level of the two playing the set determines the race. If a SL-5 plays a SL-3, then the SL-5 needs to sink 38 balls, while the SL-3 needs to sink only 25 balls. First one to reach their number wins the set.

Each set takes from 60 minutes to 180 minutes to complete.

About the local team championship (LTC)

Al’s team competed against 16 other teams from North Georgia in the LTC. The 16 teams each were 16-week season champs or runners up in their local divisions.

Al’s team won (earned 51 points or more) the five matches they played to win the tournament in dominant fashion, never needing to play the fifth set because they’d already clinched the win in only four sets each time.

Interestingly, Al was always listed as the fifth set competitor, so his team won the event without him playing a single game. According to Al, “Playing myself last was part of my strategy. I have complete confidence in my team, their abilities, and their clutch performances under pressure. They played well, got some lucky breaks, and took the title without me needing to do more than be the captain!”

About the World Championship in Vegas:

Winning the World Qualifier did not earn the team money, but earned them a free trip (airfare and hotel) to Vegas to compete against approximately 350 other teams from across the US.

The winning team of the World Championship gets $15,000.

The first round starts at 8:00 am every morning and the last round of the day starts at 11:00 pm. The team expects to have some long days and really short nights. The winning team will have to play 13 rounds so they are hopeful they will be playing 10-14 hours of 9-Ball for five straight days.

Al Shelton with check in hand

Al Shelton with check in hand in 2014.

About Al and pool

Al Shelton played a lot of pool in his younger days but did not play in any formal league. He quit playing from 1980 until 2012, when he joined his first pool league.

Since 2012, Al has won 109 8-Ball matches at a win rate of 59%. He started playing 9-Ball with APA in 2016, winning 48 matches at a win rate of 64%. He joined the APA Masters league in 2017 but only playing part time. He’s gone 7-5 all time in master’s matches. In 2014, Al placed 5th nationally in 10-Ball.

Al’s teams have played in 10 regional tournaments since 2014, finishing in first place only this time. They have placed 2nd twice.

For clarification, while folks at Emory know him as Al Shelton, he uses his middle name in the pool league, going by Dale Shelton.

“Playing pool is a lot like playing golf,” says Al (Dale). “Just as frustrating and aggravating, only without all the walking and losing balls.”

You can learn more about the North Georgia APA at their website.

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