Libraries names fellowship after the late Bret Davidson

In memory of Bret Davidson, our colleague who passed away last year, the Libraries is naming one of its NC State University Libraries Fellows positions in his honor. The Bret D. Davidson Libraries Fellowship will begin in spring 2022.

The Libraries Fellows Program offers new librarians a two-year appointment during which they develop expertise in a functional area and contribute to an innovative initiative of strategic importance. Fellows are fully integrated members of the library faculty, devoting half of their time to a home department and half to their initiative, with many opportunities for collaboration and professional development. 

Bret joined the Libraries in the spring 2012 as a Libraries Fellow in the Digital Library Initiatives (DLI) department with an initiative based in Information Technology, during which time he worked on the development of several widely used software applications. After his two-year fellowship, he was appointed as Digital Technologies Development Librarian in DLI, providing technical leadership and programming expertise for a broad portfolio of Libraries projects. In 2017, Bret became Associate Head of DLI, managing the entire lifecycle of projects and serving as a mentor and technical leader for staff, Fellows, and graduate students.

Even after Bret's fellowship concluded, he remained deeply invested in the program and the incoming cohorts. He was an active recruiter every single year, traveling to Washington, California, and British Columbia, and he became a familiar face at his alma mater, Indiana University, where he encouraged library school students to follow in his footsteps by applying to be a Fellow here. Bret was a supervisor and mentor to many of our Fellows, and he led project management training for them every year. In 2016-17, Bret served as Chair of the Fellows Advisory Committee and had even volunteered to rejoin the committee the year he passed away. He was incredibly dedicated to the success of the program and those who went through it, and naming a fellowship in his honor is one small way we can acknowledge this dedication and Bret's legacy.

In a memorial article last year, many Libraries staff members remembered Bret as a strategic and creative thinker, generous mentor and adviser, bright spirit, and dear friend.

Contributions to support this Fellowship can be directed to the Libraries’ Susan K. Nutter Innovative Leadership Fund.