Liz Liddy

Timeline

1. 1966–1975

   English literature and library science

   Raised in Utica, New York, she graduates in 1966 from Rosary Hill College, now Daemen, with a bachelor's degree in English literature. In 1975, volunteering in her oldest son's school library leads her to Syracuse University's master's program in library science, and she goes on to become faculty librarian at Onondaga Community College.

2. 1982–1988

   A doctorate in information transfer

   In 1982, she becomes the iSchool's first part-time PhD student, and she starts at Syracuse as a visiting assistant professor in 1983. She earns a PhD in information transfer in 1988; her dissertation research shows the value of natural language processing for information science.

3. 1993

   The DR-LINK retrieval system

   In 1993, she and Sung H. Myaeng describe DR-LINK, short for Document Retrieval Using Linguistic Knowledge, in the proceedings of a Human Language Technology workshop held in Plainsboro, New Jersey.

4. 1994–1999

   Founding TextWise

   In 1994, she founds TextWise, a semantic search engine company whose first product is DR-LINK, and she earns six patents there. As CEO, she grows the company to 50 employees and wins the National Tibbetts Award from the U.S. Small Business Administration. She leaves TextWise in 1999.

5. 1999–2001

   Center for Natural Language Processing

   She founds Syracuse University's Center for Natural Language Processing (CNLP) in 1999 and directs it as it builds human-like language understanding software for government, commercial and consumer applications; at its peak the center has 50 employees. In 2001, she writes the natural language processing chapter of the Encyclopedia of Library & Information Science, which many computer science courses around the country use.

6. 2007–2019

   Dean of the iSchool

   She becomes interim dean of the School of Information Studies in 2007 and dean in February 2008; the school creates New York State's first graduate certificate program in data science, and she chairs the iSchools Organization from 2012 to 2014. From January 2015 to May 2016, she serves as interim vice chancellor and provost and leads the creation of the university's academic strategic plan. She then returns as dean and serves until May 2019.

7. 2020

   A Daemen alumni award

   She receives Daemen's 2020 Distinguished Alumni Award for Advancement in Career.

8. 2025

   Death in Charlotte

   She dies in Charlotte, North Carolina, in August 2025, at 81. Syracuse University remembers her as dean emerita of the iSchool, where the Elizabeth D. Liddy Endowed Student Support Fund carries her name.