Karen Williams

Karen Williams is Vice President for Information Strategy & University Libraries at the University of Arizona. Her previous postions at the University of Arizona include Dean of University Libraries and Interim Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer. Karen has an MLS from the University of Michigan and a BA in English and Secondary Education from the University of Michigan-Flint. Her initial career focus was on creating strong roles for libraries in teaching and learning, followed by key work in scholarly communication.

As VP for Information Strategy & University Libraries, Karen has responsibility for all the activities and organizational functions of the Libraries, as well as those under the previous position of Chief Information Officer (i.e., the Chief Technology Officer, the Chief Information Security Officer, and the Executive Director for Campus IT Operations) within a single portfolio. The goal is to create a highly intentional complement of services and strategies for the secure creation, transmission, curation, and presentation of information. This includes developing and managing the campus network and collaboration infrastructure, IT security, high-performance research computing environments, enterprise applications, the distributed IT work force, analytics and reporting needs, a suite of library research services, stewardship of the scholarly record, active management of content and collections, and creation of services and spaces that support student achievement.