President Wendy Wintersteen has appointed Kristen Constant, vice president for information technology services and chief information officer, to a second five-year term, effective July 1 and pending approval by the Iowa Board of Regents.
Constant has served in the role since 2017, first as interim for two and a half years, before being permanently appointed in July 2020.
Kristen Constant
Wintersteen commended Constant for guiding the complex, multi-year endeavor to fully implement the university's new enterprise management system, Workday, and for initiating sustainment and continuous improvement efforts.
"Kristen has been an extraordinary leader during this time of rapid technological change," Wintersteen said. "Her thoughtful, collaborative and forward-thinking approach has helped the university harness technology to maintain a high quality learning environment, support student success and enhance all aspects of our mission."
Among Constant's other accomplishments are implementing ServiceNow as an IT service management platform, establishing a universitywide artificial intelligence task force, developing a centralized research storage solution, simplifying the university's application portfolio, migrating numerous paper processes to electronic formats to enhance efficiency, and strengthening information and cybersecurity.
As part of the reappointment process, direct reports, senior administrators and other campus leaders provided feedback on Constant's performance. They praised her as a hard worker, knowledgeable collaborator, and active communicator and listener who provides constructive feedback and constantly seeks opportunities for improvement.
"I am grateful for the opportunity to serve a second term as VP and CIO," Constant said. "The progress we have made in implementing cutting-edge technologies and improving our IT services has been a collective effort. I am committed to fostering a collaborative environment where we can further harness the power of technology to serve students, faculty and staff."
Constant joined the Iowa State faculty in 1992. She holds the rank of Morrill Professor and is the Wilkinson Professor of Interdisciplinary Engineering. In 2020, she was named a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a distinguished lifetime honor within the scientific community.
