Reagan Ramsower Appointed CIO And Dean Of Libraries
Baylor University President Robert B. Sloan Jr. and Provost Donald D. Schmeltekopf announce the appointment of Dr. Reagan M. Ramsower as dean of libraries at the university, effective Oct. 1. Dr. Ramsower, who was named associate vice president and chief information officer last November, will continue to serve as Baylor's CIO and provide leadership for the university's information technology services in addition to serving as chief academic officer for the libraries.
"The appointment of Reagan Ramsower as dean of libraries, along with his responsibilities as CIO, is a bold move, but more importantly it is the right move for Baylor at this time," Dr. Schmeltekopf said. "Dr. Ramsower understands every aspect of the academic life of this university, and he is a leader. With the help of the library faculty and staff, he will advance our libraries in needed and important ways. Moreover, the process that has brought us to this conclusion has been open and supported by those involved, and for that I am grateful."
Dr. Ramsower said he is honored that the faculty and staff of the Baylor libraries have asked him to serve as their chief academic officer and to represent them to the provost and president.
"Research and scholarship are fundamentally dependent on original texts and works of art, traditional journals and manuscripts, and access to ever-growing electronic databases. The 2012 vision for Baylor will require an extraordinary investment in assets to support scholarship and research," Dr. Ramsower said. "In coming years, the libraries will grow dramatically as both physical places to support the cognitive formation and sharing of ideas, and as virtual portals to access intellectual resources from any place at any time.
"These two directions are not contradictory but complementary to modern research and scholarship, and Baylor must acquire the financial resources to move in both directions simultaneously. I look forward to providing the Baylor faculty with the library facilities, resources and services needed to secure our place among the top universities in the world."
Dr. Ramsower continues to hold his appointment as professor of information systems in the Hankamer School of Business. He joined the Baylor faculty in 1976 after earning a B.B.A. and a master's degree in economics from the university. He also holds a Ph.D. in management information systems from the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management.
Dr. Ramsower is very active in the Association for Information Systems and is currently the vice president for development and publisher of two electronic journals, the Communications of the Association for Information Systems (cais.isworld.org) and the Journal of the Association for Information Systems (jais.isworld.org). He also maintains an electronic library for the Association for Information Systems (aisel.isworld.org) and is editor-in-chief of ISWorld Net, a community-oriented website for the IS worldwide community. In 2002 he will serve as program chair for the America's Conference on Information Systems, which will be co-hosted by Baylor and the University of North Texas.