Megan Threats, whose research integrates perspectives from library and information science, public health, health informatics, human-computer interaction, and digital sociology to create interdisciplinary strategies to reduce sexual health disparities affecting sexual and gender minority (SGM) and racial/ethnic minority populations, will join the SC&I faculty as an assistant professor in the Library and Information Science Department in the fall of 2020.

“I am thrilled to be joining the Rutgers School of Communication and Information during an exciting time of growth and transformation,” Threats said. “The School has a rich tradition of being at the forefront of research and innovation, and I look forward to working with the dynamic faculty and students in the Departments of LIS, Communication, and Journalism and Media Studies.” 

Currently a Ph.D. candidate in Information Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Threat’s interdisciplinary program of research uses a community-engaged and critical theoretical approach to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of eHealth and mHealth HIV/STI behavioral interventions. She also examines how digital health information practices (information needs, seeking, sharing, and use) can be leveraged to support motivation and health behavioral skills-building.

Professor and LIS Department Chair Marie Radford said, “The LIS Department is very excited to welcome Megan Threats to our faculty. Her interdisciplinary research focus is within the intersection of LIS, public health, and health disparities. Her innovative scholarship has already garnered important awards amid a growing recognition of its quality and critical importance.”  

Threats has over seven years of professional experience working in public health, public affairs and policy, higher education administration, and libraries (e.g. public, legal, academic, and medical libraries). She holds a M.S. in Library and Information Science from Syracuse University, and a dual B.A. in Political Theory and  Constitutional Democracy and Comparative Cultures and Politics from Michigan State University.

She is a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Millennium Scholar, McNair Scholar, American Library Association Emerging Leader, and she has received recognition and awards for her research from ASIST, ALISE, ALA, ARL, and MLA.

More information about the Library and Information Science Department at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information is available on the website.