The 2015 Emory University J. Pollard Turman Alumni Service Award was presented recently to Kathy Gillespie Tomajko, a 1979 graduate of the university’s Laney Graduate School (School of Librarianship) and currently Associate Dean of Libraries and Aerospace Engineering Librarian at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Tomajko, accompanied by her husband Ronald J. Tomajko and several family members, received accolades from Emory University President James W. Wagner, among others, during a gala dinner held in her honor at the university’s Miller-Ward Alumni House. According to Sarah Cook, Emory’s Senior Associate Vice President for Alumni Relations, “Kathy Tomajko is an exceptional, collaborative, and transformational leader at Emory and within the community who is an outstanding choice for our annual Turman Alumni Service Award.”

Tomajko, the award’s 25th recipient, chose to designate the Tull Charitable Foundation $25,000 gift accompanying the award to Emory Libraries and the Emory Alumni Board Leadership Scholarship. Keynote speaker Rosemary Magee, Director of Emory’s Manuscript, Archives and Rare Book Library, noted in a touching tribute that “Although she was only a student at Emory for the one-year librarianship program, Kathy made lasting relationships and contributions in a life of service to the university.”

At Emory, she has served on numerous boards and committees, including holding leadership roles on the Board of Governors (later the Emory Alumni Board) and the Office of Annual Giving Board. She has been active in the Emory Alumni Board Presidents’ Club and served as the alumni representative to the Emory University Senate from 2011-2013. In 2006, Tomajko proudly represented Emory as an appointee to the University Board of Visitors.

At Georgia Tech, Tomajko supervises three departments and works closely with Georgia Tech’s associate deans and other library and campus leadership. She is also the aerospace engineering librarian, and a published author in the field of library science.

She was the principal investigator on a statewide Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grant that created the GALILEO Knowledge Repository (now known as the Georgia Knowledge Repository) – an open access digital scholarship repository for Georgia college and university libraries. After a 36-year career at the institution, she will retire from Georgia Tech in 2015.

Committed to improving literacy and bettering her community, Tomajko has earned numerous awards for her service, including the Louise Martin Klaucke Award of the Junior League of DeKalb County for “unselfish service to her community through civic, professional and volunteer activities,” and Georgia Tech Library’s Frances Kaiser Award recognizing her “significant professional achievement in library and information science.”

Tomajko serves and has served in many volunteer capacities including the Junior League of DeKalb County, Mary Gay House Endowment Fund Board, DeKalb Rape Crisis Center, Grady Hospital Board of Visitors, International Women’s House, Leadership DeKalb, Atlanta Organizing Committee for the Centennial Olympic Games, and the Library Foundation of the DeKalb County Public Libraries.

On a personal note, Tomajko, an Ohio native, has been married to her husband, Ron, for 45 years. Following her retirement this year, they hope to increase their involvement in service to community, pursue educational opportunities like Emory’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, travel and have more time with family and friends.

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About the J. Pollard Turman Alumni Service Award and the Tull Charitable Foundation Established in 1998, the J. Pollard Turman Alumni Service Award is one of the highest honors of the Emory Alumni Association. J. Pollard Turman 34C 36L was an influential humanitarian whose support of higher education and cultural organizations benefited institutions throughout Georgia. In 1996, through the generosity of the Tull Charitable Foundation (an organization Turman helped form) Emory established the award to pay tribute to his lifelong contributions to the University. In 2005 the Tull Charitable Foundation significantly elevated its level of financial support to Emory through a generous pledge to donate $25,000 annually in honor of the Turman Award recipient.

For more information, please contact Michele Obester, Emory Alumni Association mobeste@emory.edu or 404.712.5978.