Pamela McQuesten has been named Southwestern University’s new vice president and chief information officer.

McQuesten will begin in her new position July 30. She will be a member of the University’s Senior Staff, reporting to the president and responsible for executive level campus leadership for all library and information technology operations.

McQuesten has served as the vice president and chief information officer at Occidental College since 2006. Prior to joining Occidental, McQuesten was the senior director for emerging technology solutions for the 23 campuses of the California State University. She also served as associate director for information technology services and assistant dean of the College of Communications at The University of Texas at Austin.

Early in her career, McQuesten served as editor-in chief of Popular Computing magazine and managing editor of BYTE magazine. She also served as director of the Learning Resource Center at St. Edwards University and manager of academic computing at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill.

“We believe Pam brings the knowledge, skills and qualities that we were looking for in Southwestern’s first CIO,” said Joey King, vice president for innovation at Southwestern. “She has been publicly praised for her work as a national leader and strategic thinker whose experience, vision, imagination and energy will build on the existing strengths of our library and information technology services to support and advance the mission of the University.”

In September 2011, Southwestern University President Jake B. Schrum announced plans to integrate the university’s library and Information Technology Services under a new chief information officer as part of a series of new initiatives. Many leading liberal arts colleges have already done this. McQuesten was selected after a national search to fill the position.

McQuesten said she is excited about the opportunity to serve Southwestern University in a leadership role that brings together two of the most strategic and critical services in a liberal arts college − the library and information technology services. “These two organizations are key to supporting faculty, students and staff, especially as the growing impact of digital technology enables new forms of scholarship and administrative efficiencies,” she said. “I look forward to joining the Southwestern community.”

McQuesten earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism, a master of arts in education and a Ph.D. in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin. She also holds an MBA from St. Mary’s College.

McQuesten’s professional interests focus on leadership in higher education; partnerships among faculty, information technologists and library professionals; shared information and technology services across institutions; and innovations in learning spaces. She  served on the advisory board of the National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education from 2009-2011 and currently serves as the director of the EDUCAUSE Institute Leadership Program.