UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Andrea Tapia, associate dean for research and professor in the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST), has been named interim dean for the college, effective Aug. 1. She will assume the role following the departure of Andrew Sears, as announced on June 28. A national search for a permanent replacement will begin this summer.
“The College of IST is fortunate to have Dr. Tapia at the helm during this leadership transition,” said Penn State Executive Vice President and Provost Justin Schwartz. “Andrea brings more than two decades of experience in the college with her to the role, as a leader and as a scholar in the field of information sciences and technology. I am thankful to her for stepping into this important position as interim dean and I know she will lead the college with energy and expertise.”
Tapia has served as IST’s associate dean for research since September 2021. In this role, she is responsible for driving the college’s strategic research priorities; fostering collaboration with institutional, federal and industry partners; and representing IST in research-related activities. Tapia supports initiatives across the college’s four primary research areas – data sciences and artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, privacy and security, and social and organizational informatics.
As interim dean, Tapia will oversee all aspects of the college’s operations and its strategic priorities. She will continue to drive research growth, advance faculty and recruit the next generation of IST professionals to the college, Schwartz said.
“I am honored to build upon the leadership of Dean Sears in fostering an inclusive and diverse community engaged in interdisciplinary education, research and service,” Tapia said. “It will be a privilege to lead my IST colleagues as they prepare leading professionals and scholars who leverage technology and critical thinking skills to solve the complex challenges of an information society.”
The key to success for the College of IST is a focus on engaged scholarship through internships, community partnerships and collaborative projects outside the classroom, according to Tapia, who has worked as a team member and leader with scholars in the humanities, physical sciences, computational sciences and professional sciences.
Tapia has served the College of IST for 21 years. She became an assistant professor in 2002, was awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor in 2010 and became a full professor in 2019. She served as the director of graduate programs in IST from 2015 to 2018 and as the professor in charge of the college’s social and organizational informatics research area.
Tapia has participated in a variety of university leadership training programs at Penn State. Most recently, she was the administrative fellow to the University’s executive vice president and provost and participated in the Big Ten Administrative Leadership Program. She also completed Penn State’s Changing the Future for Women in STEM Leadership Program and was selected to participate in the University’s Excellence in Academic Leadership Training.
She is also an international scholar in crisis informatics. Tapia’s research examines the way that information technology impacts and is impacted by social, cultural, political, economic and organizational structures. Ultimately, she aims to help emergency response organizations make use of large amounts of citizen-produced data to create more accurate and timely information that will transform the way these organizations operate.
Tapia said she welcomes the opportunity to lead a staff and student body that is representative of the users served by the College of IST.
“To this position, I bring a solid commitment to diversity and inclusion that runs through all that I research, teach and serve,” Tapia said. “I believe diversity drives innovation, and I seek to build and curate a culture where differences are valued.”