News & Blog

The University of Central Florida Libraries is proud to announce that Stefani Hammond is the 2019 recipient of the June S. Stillman Memorial Endowed Scholarship.

Hammond is a junior majoring in Anthropology. She plans to obtain a PhD, specializing in Biological Anthropology, and to become a professor at an established research university. A first-generation student, she began working as a student assistant in Circulation Services in the John C. Hitt Library in August 2017.

Hammond’s research career includes the McNair Scholars Program, the Research and Mentorship Program (RAMP), and presentations at UCF Undergraduate Research conferences. She has also participated in research fellowships, written manuscripts for publication in academic research journals, and worked with faculty mentor Dr. John Starbuck in UCF’s Morphometric Research Lab.

Hammond has served as a mentor for UCF’s Resident Leadership Conference and is the current Secretary of the Lambda Alpha Anthropology Honors Society. She has also been a Resident Assistant and a Conference Assistant with the UCF Department of Housing & Residence Life, a role with which she credits with teaching her empathy and compassion in leadership.

This is the 21^st awarding of the Stillman scholarship, which is given to a student or staff member of the UCF Libraries. June S. Stillman was one of the first two librarians hired when UCF (then Florida Technological University) opened in 1968. Her impact on students can be seen from a 25^th anniversary survey of the first graduating class, a majority of whom listed her as a key figure from their student days. Stillman received her second master’s degree in English Literature from UCF while working as the Head of Reference Services at the Library. She retired in 1996 and tragically passed away in 1998. Her friends and family established the June S. Stillman Memorial Endowed Scholarship in her honor. She is remembered as a consummate professional, the epitome of gentility and compassion, and a proponent of lifelong learning.         

ORLANDO, May 2018 – The University of Central Florida Libraries proudly announces the 2018 recipient of the June S Stillman Memorial Endowed Scholarship Sara Nazarian.

Sara Nazarian is a junior with a double major (History & Music), a GPA of 3.6, and plans to attend graduate school for a master’s in Museum Studies.  She began working as a library student assistant in Circulation Services in the John C. Hitt Library in May 2017.

The focus of her studies leads her to pursue internships, both domestic and international.  Her plans include spending a summer in Cuba to work on her undergraduate thesis on sex trafficking in Cuba.

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Every year, the UCF faculty and staff community donate to the Believe campaign. The campaign benefitted all colleges, departments, and initiatives on campus, as well as funding services that provide direct help to students, like Knights Helping Knights Pantry, and scholarships like First Generation Scholarships and the Libraries’ June Stillman Scholarship. The 21st Century Library building fund was also a beneficiary of Believe.

To encourage participation, our own David Benjamin, head of Special Collections, selflessly offered to go blonde if the library increased their participation to 51%.

The totals are in: the UCF Libraries had a 59% participation rate this year! We are proud to have helped UCF donate a total of over one million dollars to many worthy causes.

David’s new look has not changed his enthusiasm for Special Collections and Archives (SCUA). Check out the display on the 5th floor of the John C. Hitt Library, Recollections of a Cartoonist: The Glenn “Marty” Stein Collection of Cartoon Art, 1955-2013 to sample some of SCUA’s excellent work. And if you spot David Benjamin, ask him if it’s true blondes have more fun.

ORLANDO, June 2016 – The University of Central Florida (UCF) Libraries is happy to announce that Ms. Melissa Franco, student assistant in the John C. Hitt Library Acquisitions & Collection Services since January 2015, will receive the $2,000 June S. Stillman Memorial Endowed Scholarship for Libraries Student Assistants and USPS Staff for the academic year 2016-2017. (more…)