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Dean Lizabeth (Betsy) Wilson is appointed Vice Provost for Digital Initiatives

August 30, 2013

August 30, 2013

Seattle, WA

University of Washington Provost Ana Mari Cauce announced in August that Lizabeth (Betsy) Wilson will take on the additional role of Vice Provost for Digital Initiatives. This is one of several new appointments designed to take advantage of large and complex opportunities and challenges facing the University and to bring additional expertise into the Provost’s office.

Betsy assumes this new role in addition to her current responsibilities as Dean of University Libraries.  She will provide leadership in a number of areas, including:

  • Development of an over-all university strategy on digital issues in a wide variety of areas, including open access and open science (propelled by the  Obama Administration memorandum on public access to the results of federally funded research and data)
  • Leadership in data stewardship at UW, including an infrastructure to preserve the digital scholarly record
  • Support for digital scholarship at UW
  • Promotion of inter-institutional global research
  • Innovative use of information resources in teaching and learning

As Provost Cauce says, “Betsy brings tremendous knowledge to this arena, and we are fortunate that she is willing to add to her UW Libraries work. She is internationally recognized for her work in academic libraries and for articulating the vision and demonstrating leadership in library management and technological innovation.  She has held leadership roles in OCLC, the worldwide library cooperative, in the Association of College and Research Libraries, in the Orbis Cascade Alliance, the HathiTrust and the Western Regional Storage Trust."

Dean Wilson is the recipient of numerous national awards, including the Hugh C. Atkinson Memorial Award in 2013 for significant contributions in the area of library automation or management.

Betsy will provide extraordinary leadership for the University in her expanded role, as she will continue to do for the Libraries and the library profession.

The University of Washington Libraries is a network of more than 16 units serving three campuses: Seattle, Bothell and Tacoma. Major facilities include Suzzallo and Allen Libraries, Odegaard Library and the Health Sciences Library, as well as subject-oriented libraries.

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For more information, contact A.C. Petersen, Libraries Communications Officer, 206-543-9389.

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