Please join us in welcoming Frankie Checchio to the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries as Undergraduate Experience and Student Success Librarian. Prior to joining the Libraries, Frankie was the Reference and Instruction Librarian at Penn State University- Beaver Campus where he lead their campus instruction program, served as Student Athlete Academic Liaison, chair of the Student Success Committee, and instructor of First-Year Seminar.
We asked Frankie, who uses he/him/his pronouns, a few questions about himself and his plans for his new role.
What are your goals for this year as our new Undergraduate Experience and Student Success Librarian?
I am so excited to get to know everyone in the library and learn more about the work that you do for the libraries and around campus. Along with that, I can’t wait to meet and interact with students on campus and find ways that the library can continue to support them and help to make the library a welcoming and active space that can help them from the day they get to campus.
How has your prior experience prepared you for this role at the Carnegie Mellon University Libraries?
At Penn State, I worked hard to get the library more recognized across campus and built partnerships with most departments. At a smaller campus, I was able to get to know most of the students and tried to use their direct feedback to inform the workshops, events, and ways I taught them. I want to take these experiences and use some of them in the beginning of my work at CMU and how I can grow off that.
What projects are you excited to tackle in your first few months?
Starting to collaborate with other departments and groups in the library and across campus to find gaps and new opportunities to help our students. I know the difference the library can make in a student’s academic career and want to find new avenues to advocate for the amazing work that we all do.
What do you like to do outside of work?
Sports and music have always been an enormous part of my life, and I have been collecting books, sports memorabilia and records for most of my life- to a size that my wife can’t stand. Along with that, I’ve never been very good at sitting still, so when I am not running around trying to corral my 1-year-old son, I can often be found at shows and sporting events across the city.