Nicholas Burckel

Dean of Libraries
Associate Professor of History
Marquette University

Dr. Burckel is currently Dean of Libraries and Associate Professor of History at Marquette University where he led efforts to plan and construct a state-of-the-art $55 million library that opened in the fall of 2003. Previously he served as Director of Public Services and Collection Development and later as Associate Dean of Libraries at Washington University in St. Louis. He was also Adjunct Associate Professor in the University of Missouri’s School of Library and Information Science. He served in a variety of capacities at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside: Director of Archives and Area Research Center, Associate Director of the Library/Learning Center, Executive Assistant to the Chancellor, and Assistant Vice Chancellor.

Dr. Burckel received his undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and his MA and Ph.D. in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison; his MLS is from UW-Milwaukee. He is the editor or co-author of six books, more than a dozen articles, and 100 reviews in archival, library, and historical journals. His publications have received awards from the Council for Wisconsin Writers, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, and the American Association for State and Local History. He was awarded a Council on Library Resources academic library management internship at the University of Chicago and was a senior fellow at the Palmer School of Library and Information Science.

Dr. Burckel is past president of the Midwest Archives Conference and is a Fellow and past president of the Society of American Archivists. He currently serves on the Beta Phi Mu Library Honor Society Executive Board, the University Libraries Advisory Committee of the Council on Library and Information Resources, and the Editorial Board of Portal: Libraries and the Academy. In 1996 President Clinton appointed him to a four-year term on the National Historical Publications and Records Commission. He was reappointed to a second term on the Commission and served on its executive committee from 1997 to 2003. In 2002 he received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and in 2003 was named Librarian of the Year by the Wisconsin Library Association.

Joan C. Countryman

Head of School (retired)
Lincoln School
Providence, Rhode Island

Joan Countryman retired in June 2005 after twelve years as Head of Lincoln School in Providence, Rhode Island, a Quaker school for girls in grades kindergarten through twelve with co-educational infant and pre-school programs. Previously, she served as Assistant Head for Academic Planning and Director of Studies at Germantown Friends School in Philadelphia where she taught mathematics from 1970 to 1993. She has also lectured at the University of Pennsylvania and served as a consultant to the School District of Philadelphia. Her publications include Writing to Learn Mathematics (1992), “Is Gender an Issue in Math?” in Math and Science for Girls (1993), and Black Images in American Literature (1977).

Ms. Countryman is a member of the Board of Managers of Haverford College, the Board of Trustees of Sarah Lawrence College, the Board of the Providence Journal Company, the Board of Trustees of Women and Infants Hospital, the Advisory Council of the Women’s Fund of Rhode Island, and the Board of Trustees of the Paul Cuffee School, a non-profit, public charter school. She has served on the boards of the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools, the National Association of Principals of Schools for Girls, and the National Association of Independent Schools.

Ms Countryman grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and was the first African-American graduate of Germantown Friends School. She received her B. A. from Sarah Lawrence College, a Master’s from Yale University, and studied at the London School of Economics as a Fulbright Scholar. She and her husband, Edward Jakmauh, an architect and Principal with Ballinger Associates, live in Providence and Philadelphia. They have two children and four grandchildren.