UK Libraries is proud to recognize exemplary faculty member Dr. Stacey Greenwell as the recipient of the 2025 Paul A. Willis Outstanding Faculty Award.
Named for long-time UK Libraries director Paul A. Willis, the Willis Award is given annually to a UK Libraries faculty member who stands out amongst their colleagues through outstanding achievements in their primary assignment and exemplary leadership, creativity, and spirit of service. Faculty members are nominated by their colleagues and selected by the UK Libraries National Advisory Board.
"Stacey's impact has been felt not only throughout the Libraries but all across campus," said Doug Way, Dean of Libraries. "Over her career, she has brought innovative ideas and incredible leadership to every role she has held in the Libraries. I am so pleased we can recognize her work with the Willis Award."
Greenwell began working at UK Libraries as a student assistant, processing monographs and periodicals and retrieving microfilm. Since beginning her professional career at the organization in 2001, she has served in a variety of roles, including Associate Dean for Academic Affairs & Research, the first Director of the Hub, and the Head of Desktop Support. She is currently the Coordinator of Educational Services as well as an instructional designer and liaison to the College of Communication & Information and the Lewis Honors College.
“I have been fortunate to serve in so many areas across UK Libraries, from IT to administration to instructional design, and to have worked alongside so many terrific people and learned from them,” said Greenwell. “I have been a part of many close-knit teams and working groups, which has made my experience here such an enriching one.”
Greenwell is a Fellow of the Special Libraries Association (SLA). The founder of the SLA Academic Division, she co-edits the community’s journal, Practical Academic Librarianship. She has held numerous leadership roles in the SLA, the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), and the European Conference on Information Literacy (ECIL).
Greenwell is co-author of the second edition of Academic Librarianship (ALA Editions, 2018), Learning in Information-Rich Environments: I-LEARN and the Construction of Knowledge from Information (Springer, 2019), the fourth edition of Management Basics for Information Professionals (ALA Editions and Facet Publishing, 2020), and the ninth edition of Library Programs and Services: the Fundamentals (Bloomsbury, 2023). She has taught academic libraries courses at UK and Syracuse University.
A lifelong Kentuckian with three degrees from UK, she began her career in public libraries, including the library in her hometown of Henderson, Kentucky.
“Paul Willis hired me, so to receive an award in his name is a great honor,” said Greenwell. “I am thrilled to be a part of the extremely talented and well-respected group of individuals who have received this award before me. It means so much to me.”
Greenwell will be honored at the annual Spring Celebration on May 15, along with several other award winners:
A 1963 graduate of the University of Kentucky, Paul A. Willis served as a library director for 41 years throughout the Southeast. He worked as a cataloger at the Library of Congress before beginning his Master’s in Library Science. In 1966, he began as a circulation librarian at UK’s Law Library before becoming a university law librarian. He then served as director of UK Libraries from 1973 to 2003, later serving as the University of South Carolina’s Dean of Libraries from 2004 until 2007.
