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Mary Ann Mavrinac named winner of the 2026 FIMS Alumni Award of Excellence

Summer 2026

The Faculty of Information and Media Studies is pleased to announce Dr. Mary Ann Mavrinac, Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean Emeritus of the University of Rochester Libraries, as the recipient of the 2026 FIMS Alumni Award of Excellence.

Mavrinac served as Vice Provost and Andrew H. and Janet Dayton Neilly Dean of the University of Rochester Libraries until 2022, when she was awarded the title of Dean Emeritus. Prior to her tenure in Rochester, she was Chief Librarian at the University of Toronto Mississauga from 2001 to 2012, and Head of Western University’s The D.B. Weldon Library from 1999 to 2001.

Selected from a very competitive pool of nominees that included highly regarded candidates from LIS, Journalism and MIT/MACS, Mavrinac (MLS’84) was chosen by a committee of FIMS students, faculty, staff, and alumni.

Her distinguished career—leading a major university library system and two large academic libraries—alongside her extensive professional and community service, commitment to mentorship, and leadership in envisioning and creating innovative library spaces, exemplifies the type of impact the committee looks for when deliberating on a winner.

“Dr. Mavrinac’s long and distinguished career encompasses all aspects of librarianship and her service to the profession and to the ongoing and evolving importance of libraries, academic and public, across more than four decades of seismic technological change within the profession is truly remarkable,” says Acting Dean Susan Knabe.

Many of Mavrinac’s administrative service highlights demonstrate her keen interest in the idea of libraries as place and seek to establish experiential spaces where people can learn, explore, collaborate, and excel.

Examples include the development of a number of such spaces at the University of Rochester, including Evans Lam Square, the Barbara J. Burger iZone, and Mary Ann Mavrinac Studio X; her leadership in the development and construction of the award-winning Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre while Chief Librarian at the University of Toronto Mississauga; and her work with the Teck Centennial Public Library, Kirkland Lake in Northern Ontario, to envision and enact a $500,000 transformation of the Children’s Department.

She has completed tenures as President for both the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), and the Ontario Library Association (OLA), and currently sits as a Director at the Blanche River Health Foundation. In 2014, Mavrinac received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Ontario College and University Library Association (OCULA).

The first steps in Mavrinac’s career were taken at Western University, where she attended as a Master of Library Science student in the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) in 1983. Soon after she landed a position as an Information Assistant at The D.B. Weldon Library. She says her experiences at Western set her on a particular path, sparking an interest in reference librarianship.

“A seminal, required course on reference and information services taught by the late Sam Neill, was of particular importance. Professor Neill set a high bar, combining intellectual and philosophical questions with the practical nature of reference services,” she says.

“As luck would have it, a fellow student at SLIS encouraged me to apply for an Information Assistant position in the Reference Department, The D. B. Weldon Library.”

That role led to her first professional librarianship position as a Reference Librarian, also at Weldon Library, and eventually she would spend 18 years working at the university in progressively more demanding roles.

“So many throughlines started at SLIS and Western Libraries where my interest in reference and public services was nurtured, my passion for learning space planning was spawned, learning opportunities in the area of hierarchical and team leadership, and my interest in fundraising, public libraries, association work, and contributions to the broader community began.”

Mavrinac’s final role at Western was as Head, The D.B. Weldon Library, which she occupied between 1999-2001, before being appointed as Chief Librarian at the University of Toronto Mississauga.

Retiring as Dean from the University of Rochester has not prevented Mavrinac from continuing to positively impact her communities. In 2024, the part-time Kirkland Lake resident helped launch the Greenhouse Scholar Program out of the Kirkland Lake District Composite School (KLDCS), which provides recent graduates with a paid position, mentorship, and leadership experience prior to enrolling in postsecondary education. She also conceived of and, with her husband, supports XR Pathways Across Borders, a collaboration between KLDCS and Studio X.

Mavrinac will return to Western’s London campus on Homecoming weekend in September 2026 to accept her alumni award from Acting Dean Susan Knabe. Exceptional alumni from across the university will be honoured at a special evening reception, attended by President Alan Shepard.

Though she has received many awards and accolades over the course of her career, this one will come from the place where it all started, in recognition of all the accomplishments she has achieved since leaving Western. FIMS is immensely proud to count Mavrinac as among its alumni and looks forward to celebrating her.

Mavrinac says she is “enormously humbled and honoured to have been selected for the FIMS Alumni Award of Excellence,” and thanks her nominators, supporters who wrote letters, the selection committee, and the support of Acting Dean Susan Knabe.

“It is incredibly gratifying to be recognized for my professional work, work that occurred because of the encouragement of colleagues and faculty and the contributions of exceptionally talented and generous teammates.”