Simmons College

Fran Zilonis brings over thirty years of experience in school libraries and instructional technology to Simmons GSLIS. From 2000-2006, Dr. Zilonis was director of information technology for the Newton Public Schools, and, from 1994-2000 was full professor and the chair of Secondary Education and Professional Programs (consisting of Counseling, Educational Leadership, High School and Middle School Education, Library Media Studies, and Instructional Technology) at Bridgewater State College. From 1985-1994, she was the Director of Educational Media Services for the Cambridge Public Schools where she obtained and administered one of the first eight DeWitt Wallace-Reader?s Digest Fund Library Power grants. She began her career in the Randolph Public Schools where she was a library media specialist and subsequently became chairperson of media services K-12. Most recently, she served as the vice principal of academic affairs at Bishop Feehan High School. Dr. Zilonis received her M.Ed. in School Librarianship from Bridgewater State College in 1973, and her Ed.D. in Educational Media and Technology from Boston University in 1979. In 2005, School Library Journal named her one of the library field's most innovative and influential thinkers. Beginning in the 2009-2010 academic year, Dr. Zilonis will be teaching in the School Library Teacher Program.