Named for long-time UK Libraries director Paul A. Willis, the Willis Award is given annually to a UK Libraries faculty member who stands out amongst their colleagues through outstanding achievements in their primary assignment and exemplary leadership, creativity, and spirit of service. 

Faculty members are nominated by their colleagues and selected by the National Advisory Board. Winners receive a cash award and are recognized at the annual UK Libraries National Advisory Board’s Spring Celebration.

View all of our past Willis Award recipients, and learn more about our most recent winners below.

Ruth Bryan serves as University Archivist at the UK Libraries Special Collections Research Center, where she has worked since 2011. She leads donor relations, archival appraisal, collection management, and public services and outreach for University of Kentucky records and related collections. Bryan is a co-creator and organizer of the History Allies: Helping Protect Your Past workshops, the co-founder and organizer of UK Libraries’ web archiving program, and the co-founder and organizer of the statewide Kentucky Heritage Emergency Response Network (KHERN). She publishes and presents nationally and internationally in the areas of archival appraisal, web archiving, university history, and archival management. A Certified Archivist, she has worked as a professional archivist for 23 years.

Jennifer A. Bartlett, Oral History Librarian at the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, has served UK Libraries since 2010. Throughout her tenure, Bartlett has brought her leadership, creativity, and expertise to departments across the organization, serving as Head of Circulation, Head of Reference Services, and Interim Associate Dean for Teaching, Learning, & Research, among other positions. Her scholarly contributions have made an impact not only on UK Libraries, but on the broader profession. Bartlett is the author of Knowledge Management: A Practical Guide for Librarians (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021) and the co-editor of Libraries that Learn: Keys to Managing Organizational Knowledge (ALA Editions, 2019). She is the editor-in-chief of Kentucky Libraries and the co-editor of Practical Academic Librarianship.

Reinette Jones has served UK Libraries since 1988 and is currently a member of the Special Collections Research Center and an affiliate with the Program in African American & Africana Studies. Jones has developed several vital library resources, including the Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (NKAA), which shares the untold stories of African Americans in and from Kentucky. With 450,000 annual visits, the NKAA is a major resource for researchers across Kentucky and around the world. Jones has also worked extensively with the LGBTQ* community, and has been recognized with lifetime achievement and service awards from Kentucky LGBTQ* groups. Jones is the creator of the Lesbian Studies Research Guide, one of few academic guides devoted to the subject, and is widely published in both academic work and fiction.