REMEMBRANCES
Please leave your remembrance in the “Comment” field at the bottom of this page. You may attach photos to your remembrance. If your photos are stored online, you can easily embed HTML codes containing their URLs in the “Comment” field, e.g. img src=”http://www.ischool.pitt.edu/images/photos/faculty/koshman.jpg”. You can also send your photos directly to sherrymemoriam@hotmail.com, and we will help you upload them to our photo gallery. Thanks!
In Memoriam Dr. Sherry Koshman 
On my way to the IS building where I was going to make an oral presentation as a part of my preliminary exam, tension grew in my body despite that I had done adequate preparation for the possibly tough questions from the faculty. What upset me was the probable absence of my advisor, Dr. Koshman, who was still in recovery from a major surgery. While other students had the support from their advisors, I could have to go through the whole process alone. At the moment when I entered the classroom to set up my slides, a weak yet familiar voice called my name. It was Dr. Koshman! “Tingting, don’t worry. You can do it well, and I’m here to back you up.” A few inspiring words, a comforting hug, and a reassuring smile – these were all I needed to boost my confidence, and she brought them to me timely even if she had to walk on crutches. What a heart-warming surprise! Yes, she cared for her students and was always generous with her encouragement and assistance. During my five-year doctoral study, Dr. Koshman was doubtlessly indispensable to every achievement of mine. My respect and appreciation for her will never fade away. And I will model myself on her in my teaching career and affect my students.
Dr. Koshman helped me through many important stages of my PhD study. When I looked back, I found I probably couldn’t make it if Dr. Koshman was not there. She gave me confidences when I needed them. Every time I had struggling moments, a meeting with Dr. Koshman always can ease my feeling of anxiety. I am grateful for being her student. Now I am going to graduate soon. It is very sad that I couldn’t have her in my dissertation defense and graduation ceremony. I wish I could spend more time with her.
When I took Dr. Koshman’s information architecture class, she inspired me to do more research on the website design and online information issues. She always encouraged me when I am not sure about my research or my future and gave me strength to face the challenges during my doctoral study. I was shocked when I heard the bad news. Although she is not here now, I will always remember her advice.
Dr Koshman and I came to SIS@Pitt almost at the same time. Both as junior faculty in the same school, I have worked with Dr Koshman on many circumstances. No matter it was in research meetings, paper collaboration, student supervising, faculty meetings, or professional conferences, I always enjoyed her company, and felt inspired by her dedication to the tasks, her kindness towards colleagues and students, and her big big smiles. Now I am not a junior faculty anymore, but she has left us forever. I will miss her as a colleague and as a friend.
I remember Sherry as a doctoral student and later as a faculty colleague. A gentle spirit who was always interested to sit down and talk about just about anything on her or my mind. As her office is right across from mine, I have missed hearing her come in and missed even more our conversations, She will not be easy to replace, perhaps not replaceable at all. Having heard all those descriptions of her musical and other interests, things I did not know about, I will miss even more the chance to know more about her.
Dr. Koshman was a great teacher, mentor, and advisor. Whenever I was in difficulties in my study, she always encouraged me to keep my eyes wide. “Don’t look narrow, you have to see whole picture”. As all her students mentioned, Dr. Koshman was always there for her students when they needed her. Although she is not with us any more, we will always remember and talk about her warm heart.
Time flies away. It seems just to happen yesterday while I first time to meet Dr. Koshman three years ago. It is hard to forget how she helped and encouraged me during my PhD pursuing. I didn’t believe while I knew we lost Dr. Koshman because I did expect she will come back this coming Fall term and I could have her advice again. It is true that Dr. Koshman is not with us, but she will be missed.
Sherry was a wonderful person to be around. She was creative, funny and gentle; it is so sad that she passed this early. May her family find peace and comfort in the honor she was held in and the joy she shared.
Sherry was a caring and thoughtful teacher and was fiercely determined to move forward with her research, even in the face of health challenges. Sherry will always be a colleague to admire and she’ll be missed at our School.
Sherry and I were hired as SIS assistant professors the same year. I always felt her junior, given her previous PhD work there, and appreciated her “insider’s perspective.” I didn’t get to know her as well as I would have liked: there was always this dancing glimmer of sharp wit and amusement in her eyes.
What struck me most about Sherry was her consummate professionalism. She had her priorities straight in terms of work/life balance. She respected others’ work. She was frank and courteous in her assessments. She was very pragmatic which gave her a flexibility of intellect many do not have.
She valued her appointment as Chair of the LIS doctoral program. The comments here show that her brief tenure in the post has left a profound legacy. Requiescat in pace, dear lady.
Sherry, to me, was a rare light in an oftentimes foreboding academic world. As a doctoral advisor, mentor, and friend, she was always kind, caring, and giving of her time. Above all, she was a role model who demonstrated that mindfulness and grace are as important as accomplishment and success. I will never forget how, during many of our long advising sessions, she would notice my distracted look at the white board behind her. She would then explain with a smile on her face the drawings done by her daughters. I was fortunate to have such a wonderful advisor and I know the School of Information Sciences will not be the same.
I first met Dr. Koshman back in Sept 2004 when she was a Visiting Lecturer & I was a new doctoral student in the LIS dept. Having just moved to Pittsburgh from NY, Dr. Amanda Spink (2003-2006 at SIS) had introduced us during Orientation Week. She was eager to meet new students & get to know everyone, talk about ideas, research interests & her projects she was involved with. I remember walking with her & Dr Spink down Bellefield Ave with the two of them, with me in the middle 🙂 , everyone talking about many things: what courses I should take as a doctoral student, why statistics courses were important to take etc. We sat together I remember during that first Orientation day presentations and I had only been in Pittsburgh for about 48 hrs after moving with my daughter from NYS. Sherry was friendly, genuine, had a warm personality, extremely bright, creative, funny, interested in many things, & open to discussions about whatever was on your mind. She cared about students & other people and not agendas. She was as Dr Jablonski mentioned-sharp, practical, & extremely professional. She spoke to you directly & honestly, if she was not clear on something she would ask the question in a different way until something was understood better. I remember her helping me re-frame certain questions with a project I was working on and how she asked the questions in different ways. She was very inquisitive with her interests always and an experienced researcher.
There were transitions going on back then, Dr. Griffiths left SIS in 2004-05 for UNC, other faculty retired, some were away on sabbatical, so it was not an easy time for doctoral students then either. But in 2005 Dr. Koshman became part of the regular full time faculty there At that time, Dr Amanda Spink was also on the faculty from 2003 til about 2006 or so before she left the School (and her role as head of the doctoral students), Dr. Koshman worked on many projects & publications with her and they both were very active in ASIST. One thing that interested her then was a project I had done at Albany which received an award in 2000 from ASIST. We often talked about projects she was involved with when I saw her, I remember one meeting in her office once when she was telling me about her thesaurus project she was doing. Dr Koshman also was interested in GIS & information visualization & we spoke about the Lancelot manuscripts project that I was helping Dr Alison Stones /Art History dept with since that project was housed in SIS with Ken Sochats/info visualization lab. She never would say you can’t do this or you can’t do that-she was interested to hear about ideas & how to make something better in terms of research/outcomes. I remember her also as a faculty member who was always teaching. She was a steady presence with her teaching each term. She made herself always available to talk to students & to advise them. When I think back to her esp in 2004-2006 she seemed very happy to be there, eager to take on projects/teach & advise students, she was always busy with things & was a rather independent spirit there, by this I mean she was very much her own person-unique & talented in many ways. Those that got to know her more, knew this about her. I had last been in touch with her by email about a year or so ago before her duties were re-assigned to other faculty, even though she was not well, she remained always responsive and engaged on students’ behalf and their future. She was a very quiet person, but cared about her work, her teaching and her ability to make a difference.
Since I am away from the school now for many years, I was unaware of her health problems & very sad to hear of her sudden passing, esp at such a young age. She had an immense capacity for helping other people and always had a big smile when you saw her. I’ll always be grateful to her for her kindness, her example as a professional/mentor, and will remember her fondly as someone who has helped so many students. My deepest sympathy to her husband, her two daughters, her parents/family, she will be missed by so many.
My deepest condolences to Dr Koshman’s family. I was in Dr Koshman’s Information Architecture class. She struck me as an energetic and extremely enthusiastic professor who persisted to give her best despite difficult and unfavorable health conditions. She was definitely a gentle personality but a true fighter at heart. Just like how she had inspired many in her sadly short but well-lived life, Dr Koshman’s fighting spirit had certainly showed me what stoic optimism and determination towards life really means.
Sherry’s husband Dennis here… just wanted to mention that I’ve collected various links about Sherry onto a simple web page at http://www.hq99.net/sherry/ (including a link to this memoriam site).
Those of you who knew her mostly from her academic work may not be aware that she was a gifted musician. in 1999 she made some vocal recordings at home just for fun – mostly Christmas music. I’ve uploaded those recordings to my web site and also included the ones used in the memorial service. The music page is at http://www.hq99.net/sherry/music.html.
Dear Mr. Moul,
Thank you very much for sharing your unforgettable memories of Dr. Koshman. Her musics make us recollect our beloved Dr. Koshman. We still remember Dr. Koshman’s passions and dedication for her research and students. I will share the links with her students and colleagues. Thank you again!