María Estorino named vice provost for University Libraries and university librarian

Dear Carolina Community,

We are excited to share that María R. Estorino has been appointed vice provost for University Libraries and university librarian, effective Jan. 30. She has held this role in an interim capacity since May and will continue to provide collaborative and community-focused leadership on our campus.

Estorino has been a leader in academic libraries for more than 20 years. She joined the University Libraries in 2017 as associate university librarian for special collections and director of the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library. In that role, she was a member of the University Libraries’ leadership team, with a focus on expanding and advancing the work of Carolina’s outstanding special collections.

One of María’s signature initiatives is the development of a robust and growing fellowships program to support undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty and community researchers in their scholarly and creative uses of special collections at Carolina. To date, the program has made 109 awards to fellows from almost 60 universities. Estorino also has a distinguished record of attracting grant and gift support for the work of the University Libraries, most recently as part of a $2 million endowment and challenge match from the William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust.

María has been instrumental in cultivating partnerships across the University community, including spearheading the Library’s collaboration with the College of Arts and Sciences and Carolina Performing Arts on the Southern Futures initiative. She is a member of the Campus Arts Council, the Carolina Engagement Council, the advisory boards for the Research Labs of Archaeology and the Center for Faculty Excellence, and the Board of Governors of the UNC Press. Her professional service includes the Program Steering Committee of the HathiTrust Digital Library and the Advisory Committee of the Triangle Research Libraries Network. In the community, she has served on the Strategic Planning Steering Committee for the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Schools and the board of Orange Literacy.

Estorino is a strong advocate for accessibility in libraries and has worked to build expansive and inclusive collaborations with North Carolina communities. She has helped special collections units refine their vision for rare and archival collections to broaden representation of the many cultures and communities that make up our state. She has also provided leadership on the advisory committee for the Association of Research Libraries’ Kaleidoscope Program and the Society of American Archivists Diversity Committee and Mosaic Program Task Force.

Before coming to Carolina, María was vice president of museum collections at HistoryMiami Museum in Florida. Prior to that, she spent 14 years in positions of increasing responsibility at the University of Miami Libraries, concluding as the Esperanza Bravo de Varona Chair of the Cuban Heritage Collection.

We wish to thank Gary Marchionini, dean and Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor at the School of Information and Library Science, who chaired the search committee and its members for their work to identify Estorino as the leading candidate. We are confident that under her leadership the University Libraries will continue to grow as a vibrant center for learning, research and collaboration.

Sincerely,

Kevin M. Guskiewicz
Chancellor

J. Christopher Clemens
Provost and Chief Academic Officer