Cynthia Hudson Vitale to assume role in May
Sheridan Dean Elisabeth Long of University Libraries, Archives, and Museums announced today the appointment of Cynthia Hudson Vitale as associate dean of technology strategy and digital services, effective May 13, 2024. Vitale comes from the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), where for the last three years she served as director of science policy and scholarship.
“The Sheridan Libraries and University Museums are renowned for their extensive history of innovation in both research and student learning services and infrastructure,” Vitale said. “This position is particularly exciting given its role in fostering intellectual discovery, research, and transformative learning through digital strategies.”
Vitale will report to the Sheridan Dean of University Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and oversee the development and implementation of a vision and strategy for information technology and digital services. She will provide leadership for the Digital Research and Curation Center, Open Source Programs Office, Data Services, and Library Applications Group. In addition, she will collaborate with colleagues across the institution and external partners to support data-intensive research, open science, and the discovery and preservation of digital assets to advance the mission of Johns Hopkins University.
“I am delighted that Cynthia has agreed to take on this exciting and critical role at the Sheridan Libraries and University Museums,” said Long. ” With a proven track record in collaborating and leading key partnerships within and across institutions and higher education to meet strategic priorities, she is ideally suited for this position. I look forward to working with Cynthia to develop technical infrastructure and services that address and anticipate the dynamic research needs of our students and faculty.”
During her time at ARL, Vitale provided strategic leadership and led international initiatives for digital collections, special and distinctive collections, university-led publishing, and research and scholarship across the top 127 US and Canadian research libraries. Her career in research libraries has been scholar-facing and technology- and data-intensive. She was the head of research informatics and publishing at the Pennsylvania State University Libraries, where she led a team focused on enhancing the technology-driven research and publishing capacity of faculty and students. Vitale also worked at Washington University in St. Louis.
Vitale’s areas of expertise includes information architecture, research data management and curation, open science, and scholarly communications. Vitale has been the principal investigator (PI) or co-PI on grants totaling millions of dollars in digital scholarship, data curation training and education, and data sharing. She holds a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Missouri, and a bachelor’s degree in international relations and communications from Saint Louis University.
Vitale fills the position previously held by Sayeed Choudhury, who left Hopkins in July 2022 to become associate dean for digital infrastructure at Carnegie Mellon Libraries.