Desiree Alaniz is the 2016 recipient of the Josephine Forman Scholarship sponsored by the General Commission on Archives and History of The United Methodist Church, in cooperation with the Society of American Archivists. The $10,000 scholarship provides financial support to minority students pursuing graduate education in archival science, encourages students to pursue careers as archivists, and promotes the diversification of the American archives profession.
Alaniz, who is pursuing dual master’s degrees in library and information science and history at Simmons College in Boston, has been an active leader in several student-activist organizations and with Quist, a volunteer-run app that documents the history of LGBT communities. Her dedication to engaging issues of social justice within archival practice is evident in her collaborative work with other students and in her recently published article, “Diversity in Archives,” in the New England Archivists Newsletter.
Noting Alaniz’s achievements both in and outside of the classroom, one supporter wrote that Alaniz “is a person of action and is a natural leader in the community at large,” and that she was impressed with Alaniz’s “sincere interest in how archival theory connects with the reality of the profession.”