James Wiser named dean of K-State Libraries
Wednesday, June 11, 2025
James Wiser, a transformative leader and library administrator, has been named the new dean of K-State Libraries at Kansas State University. Wiser’s appointment, which begins Aug. 17, was made by K-State Provost and Executive Vice President Jesse Perez Mendez following a national search.
“I am thrilled to welcome Dr. Wiser to Kansas State University,” said Mendez. “Dr. Wiser has a proven history of administrative success as a servant leader whose care and passion for his people is evident — he is poised to drive incredible collaboration as he leads K-State Libraries forward with the Next-Gen K-State vision front and center.”
As the chief academic and administrative officer of K-State Libraries, Wiser will provide strategic leadership and vision crucial in the support of K-State Libraries’ strategic initiatives as the intellectual core of the university, promoting and supporting an increase in research, scholarship and engagement across the university. He will oversee multiple departments delivering exceptional library services and support the continuing transformation of K-State Libraries as a center encouraging student research, academic excellence, and collaboration within a technologically rich environment. Furthermore, Wiser will serve as a critical and active advocate for K-State Libraries and its diverse constituencies, missions in teaching, learning, and scholarship, and its importance to K-State now and in the future — all while advancing operational excellence and nurturing faculty/staff success and development.
“I have known for a long time that the faculty and staff of the K-State Libraries are wonderful, but throughout this process, I became inspired by their friendliness, resilience and dedication to the K-State community,” said Wiser. “It will be an honor to join these incredible colleagues as we position our libraries to support the university in becoming a next-generation land-grant university.”
Wiser currently serves as the dean of library services and educational technology at Abilene Christian University. There, he led a comprehensive strategic planning effort that launched in 2022, with significant progress already charted toward 2027 goals.
Additionally, he led the library’s evolution and expansion as Abilene Christian University achieved Research 2, or R2, status earlier this year, growing the library’s internal and external funding and expanding the library’s print and electronic collections budget by 30%. Generating and cultivating partnerships has also been a hallmark of Wiser’s success, driving critical collaboration with university alumni offices, museums and more.
Prior to his tenure at Abilene Christian University, Wiser served as library consortium director for the Community College League of California from 2015-2020, where he led the growth of licensing participation from $4 million to $11.6 million in support of the state’s community college libraries. He also served as manager of library relations and sales support for Sage Publishing from 2013-2015, assistant director of the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium from 2008-2012 and head of graduate campus libraries and director of Drescher Library at Pepperdine University from 2004-2008. Wiser began his career as an information scientist for the General Motors Corporation.
Wiser holds a doctorate in education from the University of Texas at Austin, a Master of Business Administration from Pepperdine University, a Master of Library Science from Indiana University Bloomington and a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Harding University.