Davidson College Admin. Kristen Eshleman Named Vice President for Library and Information Technology Services

Jack P. Carroll ‘24

Managing Editor

In an email addressed to members of the Trinity College community on Wednesday, May 26, President of the College Joanne Berger-Sweeney announced the appointment of Kristen Eshleman as Trinity’s Vice President for Library and Information Technology Services (LITS). Eshleman, who will begin her new position on July 12, was previously the Director of Innovation initiatives at Davidson College in North Carolina where she served in various roles for 20 years. In her new role at Trinity, Berger-Sweeney indicated that Eshleman will “provide leadership of the merged LITS organization and collaborate with fellow cabinet members and me, as well as with faculty, staff, and students, to advance our strategic goals.”

Eshleman began her career at Davidson in 2001 as an instructional technologist in the humanities after which she became Director of Institutional Technology in 2005 and Director of Digital Learning and Innovation in 2015. Before her tenure at Davidson, Eshleman worked at two start-up companies and obtained a bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel-Hill and a master’s degree in Sociocultural Anthropology from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Eshleman has published articles for Inside Higher Ed and EDUCAUSE Review; she also co-authored the 2016 book Librarians and Instructional Designers: Collaboration and Innovation.

Highlighting her work at Davidson, Berger-Sweeney wrote that Eshleman, who chairs the College’s Innovation Council, led a project to “develop an inclusive, transparent, and collaborative innovation management framework.” Additionally, Eshleman served as a member of the EDUCAUSE Annual Meeting Program Committee, the Partnership for the Liberal Arts Collaboration and Exploration Steering Committee, and the Liberal Arts Consortium for Digital Innovation (LACOL) Advisory Council where she helped launch the Undergraduate Network for Research in the Humanities. Furthermore, Esheleman was a member of a team that was awarded an $800,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to establish a curricular model for digital studies. 

The search committee that selected Eshleman was led by acting Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs Sonia Cardenas. Joining Cardenas on the committee were David Andres, Director of Analytics and Strategic Initiatives; Carlos Espinosa, Director of Community Relations and Trinfo.Café; Jordin Lewis ‘22; Dan Lloyd, Brownell Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Library and Information Technology Committee (LITC); Christina Posniak, Assistant Vice President for College Advancement; and Ewa Syta, Assistant Professor of Computer Science and member of the LITC.

When asked about her decision to serve at Trinity, Eshleman informed the Tripod that she was drawn by “the people, the leadership, and the mission. During my visits, I met with incredible staff, faculty, and students. And Trinity’s cabinet is impressive–smart, caring, and collaborative. I was also drawn to the distinctive urban setting and experiential curricula that faculty and staff have developed here.” Eshleman indicated that “We [LITS] will spend most of my first 60 days getting to know each other as a team and gathering additional perspectives from faculty, staff, and students. The college is developing its 5-year strategy now. This includes a focus on technology and data.” Eshleman added that “We are eager to understand when things are working well and when they aren’t. And I want to extend an open invitation from me to students: Come talk to me about your experiences at Trinity and how LITS can better support your goals.”