Kong selected as associate vice provost and dean for Purdue Libraries

Professor Nicole Kong, an expert in geographic information systems and longtime Purdue Libraries faculty member, has been named associate vice provost and dean of Purdue Libraries and School of Information Studies (SIS).

Sunil Prabhakar, vice provost for faculty affairs, announced Kong’s appointment today (March 5) after an internal search and thanked the committee, led by Bernie Engel, the Glenn W. Sample Dean of Agriculture, for its hard work during the selection process.

“With the rapid advent of artificial intelligence, Purdue Libraries is eager to modernize its approach and contribute to Purdue’s core scholarly mission,” Prabhakar said. “Under Professor Kong’s leadership, Libraries will focus strongly on supporting Purdue’s goals in AI and in supporting and enhancing our overall scholarly reputation, while continuing to serve our students and faculty.”

Kong will assume her new duties on March 16.

Kong said she is excited for the opportunity to shape the strategic direction of Libraries and SIS while advancing Purdue’s leadership in information science and scholarly communication. In this role, Kong will serve as its chief academic officer, guiding strategic, programmatic and financial operations.

“I am honored to lead such a dedicated team of faculty, researchers and staff at this pivotal time,” Kong said, “as we embark on developing and implementing a strategic vision that will help advance universitywide initiatives such as information and AI literacy, information and data stewardship while enriching key collaborations across academic departments and our research enterprise.”

Kong joined the Purdue faculty in 2012 and has served as associate dean for research in Libraries and SIS since 2021. Her interdisciplinary research in geospatial information science, data stewardship and digital scholarship has been supported by more than $25 million in sponsored research from various federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Her work has received numerous recognitions, including the American Library Association’s MAGIRT Honors Award and Esri’s international Special Achievement in GIS Award. After earning her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Peking University, she received her PhD from Pennsylvania State University in 2006.