CSN Librarian Stephanie Villamor Wins Regents' Award
CSN Libraries Elearning Librarian, Stephanie Espinoza Villamor, was recently awarded the 2022 Nevada Regents’ Creative Activities Award! This prestigious award recognizes significant accomplishments which bring recognition and national and international stature to the Nevada System of Higher Education.
In her letter nominating Stephanie for the award, CSN Professor of Education Theri Wyckoff wrote, “Stephanie exemplifies what it means to earn this award not only because of her award-winning, nationally published creative fiction and non-fiction, but also because of her willingness to share her talents through presentations, blogs, and societies she has founded to help aspiring writers.” Over the years, Stephanie has shared her work at local, national and international conferences, including numerous CSN organizations, Nevada System of Higher Education Diversity Summits, the American Library Association and the National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development.
Stephanie’s creative work spans two decades and incorporates themes of cultural diversity and neurodiversity, while addressing social issues. A few of her recent creative activities are highlighted below:
- “Artificial,” a short science fiction story, won first place in the 2020 Insecure Writer’s Support Group annual anthology contest and was published in Dark Matter: Artificial (2021). The story focuses on artificial intelligence, societal issues, and what it means to be alive. As author of the story, Stephanie was invited to be part of an international conference panel at QuaranCon 2021.
- “My Life in Cube 19” is a short story aimed at middle grades and explores themes of self and belonging. It was published in the local Henderson Libraries 2021 anthology, Impressions: Isolate.
- “Marketing from the Heart” is a creative non-fiction chapter that covers marketing for both community college and university libraries, focusing on empathetic marketing and the student as a whole person. The chapter is in the text, Practical Marketing for the Academic Library, which Stephanie co-authored and will be released in June of 2022.
Stephanie is currently on maternity leave but will be back to our CSN Libraries later this Spring semester. Stephanie said, “It’s such an honor to have been chosen as the Creative Activities Award recipient, especially across all of NSHE! I’ve loved creative writing since I was a child, and I love being able to incorporate that into my work at the college when I can. I feel like my complete job title is a Librarian/Writer/Mom, because those are major parts of my identity that inspire me to continue my passions and pursue creative projects that will hopefully help others as well.”