McNamara Scholarship Winners
McNamara Scholarship Winners, 2011-Present
2020
Megan Ralston-Munger recently graduated with her Master of Library and Information Science degree from the University of California, Los Angeles in June 2020. Having previously graduated summa cum laude with her Bachelor of Music degree from California State University, Fullerton, she has drawn extensively on her experience in the performing arts as she pursues a new career in librarianship.
During her undergraduate studies in vocal performance, Ralston-Munger received the Jane Rodriguez Memorial Scholarship in 2013 and 2014. Additionally, she won second place in the Senior Women division of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) Los Angeles Chapter Competition in 2014, and first prize in the Best Handel Performance division of the Great Composers Competition series in 2017. After an incredible journey of music study that took her from singing opera in Hawai’i to a choir in Paris, Ralston-Munger decided to pursue a career in performing arts librarianship to continue drawing on her love of performance, but in an academic setting where her affinity for academia could also shine.
During the pursuit of her MLIS, Ralston-Munger worked to achieve a varied and inclusive look into the many different kinds of librarianship by pursuing different volunteer and internship opportunities. Her internships included working in the youth services department at Ovitt Family Community Library, working with the performing arts research librarian at University of California, Irvine, and finally an internship at the University Library at California State University, Long Beach.
Ralston-Munger is now the librarian at Ybarra Academy of Arts and Technology, where she is focusing on making the collection as diverse and accessible as possible.
2020 Professional Awards Committee: Drew Barker (Chair), Susan Brady, Jeannie Chen, Karen Nickeson, Kevin Winkler.
2018
Jeannie Chen
University of California, Los Angeles
Jeannie Chen
The Café of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, New York City, October 18, 2019.
2017
McNamara Scholarship not awarded
2016
Megan Mitchell
University of Washington
The Café of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, New York City, October 14, 2016.
2015
McNamara Scholarship not awarded
2014
Selena Chau
San Jose State University
Bruno Walter Auditorium, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
October 17, 2014
2013
McNamara Scholarship not awarded
2012
Lisbeth Wells-Pratt
School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Lisbeth Wells-Pratt and Nancy Friedland, TLA Awards Ceremony, 2012 (Photo: Angela Weaver)
Bruno Walter Auditorium, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
October 12, 2012
2011
Abigail Garnett
Palmer School of Library and Information Science, Long Island University
Abigail Garnett and Nancy Friedland, TLA Awards Ceremony, 2011 (Photo: Angela Weaver)
Bruno Walter Auditorium, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
November 4, 2011