I was born and raised in Minsk, the capital of
Belarus, a former Soviet republic. In 1989, I
graduated from the Belarusian University of Culture with my
Masters Degree in Library and Information Science. Upon
graduation, I was offered a teaching position at the same
department and taught Library Science courses for five
years. During these years I traveled extensively across
Europe as a member of the international organization “Servas”,
spent two summers as a
Rotary
exchange student in Holland, and attended conferences in
Finland, Russia, and Poland. In 1994, I received a Freedom
Support Act Fellowship from
IREX (USIA)
to come to the United States as a one-year graduate exchange
student. While at
LSU, I
applied for the Masters Degree Program in Library and
Information Science and was subsequently awarded a
full-tuition award. During my graduate studies I had a
wonderful opportunity to spend two summers as a summer
intern at the
Library of Congress. I worked in
European division as well as Congressional Research
Service. I graduated with my M.L.I.S. in December 1995. In
January of 1996 I started an Advanced Certificate Program in
Library and Information Science and after completion I was
offered a Web Manager/Reference and Instructional Services
Librarian position at
Michigan
Technological University Library. While working
full-time at Michigan Tech, I was accepted to the
PhD program in Rhetoric and Technical Communication. I
completed all the coursework but unfortunately wasn’t able
to complete the program due to a new employment offer in
California. In May 2001 I accepted a web manager position at
Whittier
College where I presently work. On a part-time basis I
also work as a librarian at
Rio
Hondo Community College and do
freelance work in web design.
The URL to my web site is:
http://www.shabelnikdesign.com
