School of Information Sciences

iSchool remembers Professor Allen Kent

05/02/2014

The iSchool at Pitt regrets to announce the passing of one of the foremost pioneers of Information Science, Distinguished Service Professor Allen Kent. Professor Kent passed away on Thursday, May 1, 2014. Celebrated for his tireless efforts in the field of information science, Kent received a Bachelor of Science in chemistry from the City College of New York, a certificate in metallurgical testing at New York University, and also served in the United States Air Force and the Air Documents Research Office in London, working on captured German documents during World War II.  

Professor Kent joined the University of Pittsburgh in 1963 where he founded and became Director of the Knowledge Availability Systems Center at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1968, he formed and became chairman of the Interdisciplinary Department of Information Science and in 1970 he was Director of the Office of Communication Programs. Early in his Pitt tenure, he served as an advisor to the Kennedy White House regarding the creation of a National Information Storage and Retrieval Network. A prolific writer and editor, Kent wrote the Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science, the Encyclopedia of Computer Science and Technology, and The Encyclopedia of Microcomputers.  Professor Kent also served as Associate Dean of the School of Library and Information Science from 1982-1985 and Interim Dean from 1985-1986.

Professor Kent received several awards including the Best Information Science Book of the Year Award in 1980, the annual Award of Merit in 1977 from the American Society of Information Science and in 1968 the Eastman Kodak Award for significant contributions to the Science of Information Technology.

In honor of Professor Kent, memorial contributions may be made to the Allen Kent Scholarship. For more information, please contact Amy Herlich (amy.herlich@pitt.edu).

For more information about Allen Kent, please click here: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/postgazette/obituary.aspx?n=kent-allen&pid=170892525&fhid=4269