Dr. Carol Collier Kuhlthau was inducted into the New Brunswick High School Hall of Distinguished Alumni (HODA) during the 2017 NBEF Awards Gala.
She described being selected to receive the HODA award as surprising because she didn’t believe that New Brunswick High School (NBHS) would remember her. She stated, “It was a true honor and I was overwhelmed with excitement when accepting the invitation.”
Dr. Kuhlthau has partnered with the New Brunswick Education Foundation (NBEF) to sponsor a $25,000.00 college scholarship. Starting this year through 2026, twenty-five graduating seniors (five each year) from New Brunswick High School (NBHS) or New Brunswick Health Sciences Technology High School (NBHSTHS) will be presented $1,000.00 to use toward their respective college education under the Dr. Carol Kuhlthau Encouragement Scholarship.
“Since being inducted I knew I wanted to commit to establishing a college scholarship such as this,” said Dr. Kuhlthau. She further mentioned, “I made several donations since then, but then realized it was time to do something with longevity and greater impact.” After receiving positive feedback from family and friends about the scholarship idea, Dr. Kuhlthau solidified her $25,00.00 scholarship commitment.
Emmanuel Ford, NBEF’s Founder and Executive Director stated that her commitment didn’t surprise him. “Dr. Kuhlthau is very passionate about making a positive impact in the lives of New Brunswick youth, especially in terms of their education and careers.” Ford also noted, “she is a proud alumna of NBHS and takes pride in helping current graduates (through NBEF’s Scholarship Program) to have an opportunity to achieve their dreams and make their mark in society.”
Dr. Kuhlthau’s scholarship is named the Encouragement Scholarship representing just that, “ENCOURAGEMENT“. She shared its purpose is to inspire students to keep going. She wants to remind them that someone has been in their shoes and believes in them. Three words that she would use to describe her scholarship are: sustain, support and opportunity. She encourages the recipients to find their talent, find their passion and follow it. She wants them to know that the work isn’t going to be easy but it will make it worthwhile.
“Emmanuel Ford is doing a phenomenal job in leading the organization,” said Kuhlthau. “What I love is that NBEF starts preparing students for college while they are in high school and continues the support after they graduate college and go into their careers. I’ve never seen a program like it before, it’s remarkable!”
Dr. Kuhlthau is a 1955 graduate of NBHS, who enjoyed attending football games and basketball games. She attained her Bachelor’s degree from Kean University in 1959 and went on to pursue a Master’s in Library Science in 1974 and Doctorate in Education in 1983, both from Rutgers University.
Dr. Kuhlthau is world renowned for her groundbreaking research on the Information Search Process and for the ISP model. Introduced in 1991, this model introduces six stages of information seeking including the attitudes, beliefs, and actions associated with each stage. Kuhlthau’s work, including text, Seeking Meaning: A Process Approach to Library and Information Services and Teaching the Library Research Process, is among the most highly cited by library and information science faculty and one of the conceptualizations most often used by information science researchers. Dr. Kuhlthau retired as Professor Emerita in 2006.
She was married to the late Honorable Judge John S. Kuhlthau; and she has three daughters: Eleanor Molloy, a business owner in New Brunswick; Anne Caspari, an education specialist at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.; and Dr. Leslie Maniotes, an education consultant in Denver, Colorado.
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