When reality shifts under our feet, how do we respond? That’s the central theme at TEDxClevelandStateUniversity this year. Thirteen fascinating speakers will share their innovative ideas on Oct. 21, 2016, at Cleveland State University. Among them is Kent State University School of Library and Information Science alumna Andrea Muto.
Muto will talk about her work in Kabul, Afghanistan, as federal government contractor hired to implement rule of law projects for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). While in Afghanistan in 2008, Muto was a senior legal information advisor and was tasked with designing and staffing a new law library, which would be located on Kabul University’s campus.
Muto also served as a consultant for the World Bank in Kabul, where she designed plans to develop provincial libraries. Later, she worked for the University of Washington’s School of Law program as a Jessup Moot Court team coach. Muto and her UW team were the first from Afghanistan to travel to Washington, D.C., to compete in the international competition.
After Kabul, Muto worked through USAID on two rule of law projects in Pristina, Kosovo, for three years and then on another project in Monrovia, Liberia, for three weeks. Muto’s role on these projects varied, from assisting with development of searchable legal databases in Pristina, to consulting with a quasi-government organization to redesign a website for free access to online legal information for the Liberian courts and government ministries. Read more about Muto’s international experiences.
A native of Springfield Township, just outside of Akron, Muto received her Master of Library Science degree from Kent State in 1998 and was awarded the alumna of the year award from the School in 2011. Now a resident of Washington, D.C., she currently works as a journalist, lawyer, law librarian and international development consultant.
Muto has not been given an exact time for her talk at the TEDx event, only that it will be sometime between 2 and 4 p.m. Read more about Muto’s upcoming TEDx talk. Read about the other TEDx presenters and find ticket information.
The School of Library and Information Science at Kent State University offers a Master of Library and Information Science (M.L.I.S.) and Master of Science in Information Architecture and Knowledge Management (IAKM), with concentrations in health informatics, knowledge management and user experience design. In addition, the school participates in an interdisciplinary Ph.D. in the College of Communication and Information. With more than 700 students enrolled, SLIS has the largest graduate program at Kent State. Its M.L.I.S. is the only American Library Association-accredited master’s program in Ohio and is recognized by U.S. News and World Report among the nation’s top 20 LIS programs, with a youth services program that is ranked 10th. For more information, visit www.kent.edu/slis.
