Elizabeth D. Liddy, dean of the Syracuse University School of Information Studies (iSchool), has been nominated to receive honorary membership in the Alpha Sigma chapter of Phi Beta Delta International Honorary Society.
Dean Liddy will be inducted at a ceremony on Friday, March 5, at Hendricks Chapel, along with about 100 other students, faculty, administrators, and staff. Dean Liddy will also serve as the keynote speaker at the induction ceremony. Her address will focus on the value of international educational exchange.
Phi Beta Delta is the International Honorary Society for students, scholars, and administrators in the United States who are engaged in the support of international educational exchange. Phi Beta Delta aims to increase the recognition, credibility, and importance of the international study experience; develop a network of individuals (students, faculty, and staff) involved in the international study experience; create a catalyst for international academic-based programming on campuses; and connect individuals on university campuses and throughout the world involved in the international educational experience.
The Alpha Sigma chapter of the society serves Syracuse University and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. Each year, the Alpha Sigma chapter invites a distinguished member of the faculty or administration to receive an honorary membership. Honorary members must have achieved outstanding eminence in some field of academic, creative, or intellectual endeavor, and be nominated by the chapter’s executive board. Dean Liddy was unanimously chosen by the executive board to receive this year’s honorary membership.
Liddy is Dean and Trustee Professor at the Syracuse iSchool, ranked #1 in information systems by U.S. News & World Report. Prior to being named Dean in February 2008, Liddy was founding director of the Center for Natural Language Processing (CNLP), which advances the development of human-like language understanding software capabilities for government, commercial, and consumer applications.
Liddy has led more than 65 research projects with funding from various government agencies, foundations, and commercial enterprises. She has authored more than 110 research papers and given hundreds of conference presentations on her work. Liddy was the founding president of TextWise LLC, which she led from 1994–1999 in the development of a search engine ultimately used by the U.S. Patent Office. In addition, she is inventor or co-inventor on seven patents in the area of natural language processing. Liddy is also Chair of ACM-SIGIR, the premier professional organization for the field of search, for the 2007-2010 term. She was recently elected to serve a two-year term as Chair of the iCaucus, an international educational organization consisting of deans from 24 information schools. Her term as Chair will begin in 2012.
Liddy holds a bachelor’s degree in English language and literature from Daemen College and an M.L.S. and a Ph.D. in information transfer, both from Syracuse University.