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José-Marie Griffiths

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José-Marie Griffiths (born March 31, 1952) is an English academic administrator currently serving as President of Dakota State University in the United States. Since 2020 she also serves as an independent director of Daktronics, Inc. Previously (1996-2001) she served as a professor of information at the University of Michigan. She researches the use of information technology in higher education, the contribution of technology and informatics, and health informatics. In addition to the ASIS&T Award of Merit (1999), Griffiths received the ASIST Research in Information Science Award, with Donald W. King (1990).

Photo Available @ https://www.sdhalloffame.org/news/building-a-dynamic-future-with-dr-jose-marie-griffiths

Life

Griffiths was born in 1952 in Isleworth, Middlesex, England. Griffiths' maternal grandfather was active in the Dutch Resistance during World War II, and her father served in the British Army. She grew up in London with her two brothers and sister. She is fluent in Dutch and French, and played competitive netball, tennis, and field hockey.[1]

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree (BSc) in Physics with Honours (1973 - one of just three women) and a PhD in Information Science from University College, London (1977). She also taught at Queen's University Belfast. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Computer Science and Statistics at University College, London, and in 2016 was awarded an Honorary degree in Science by the same institution.

Griffiths immigrated to the United States after graduate school to build a research career, when she was recruited by UC Berkeley to be a visiting professor of Information Science. Within one year, she was recruited by King Research, Inc. where she contributed to commercial projects developing information systems for state and Federal agencies. She served as Vice President for King Research, Inc.

Griffiths married Donald Ward King (July 18, 1932 - November 17, 2019), a world-renowned statistician and information science pioneer.[2] Griffiths has one daughter and five stepdaughters, and several grandchildren.[3]

Contributions

Griffiths was invited by the U.S. Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to be their first Collaborating Scientist in Information Science. The position was shared with the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she served for a time as a professor in the School of Information Sciences before moving into academic administration.

She served as lead or key personnel for projects with major corporations such as AT&T, Bell Laboratories, Eastman Kodak, Johnson and Johnson, and IBM, and with over 28 U.S. Federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation, NASA, NIH, and U.S. intelligence agencies. She has received U.S. Presidential appointments to the National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (1996 to 2003, President Clinton), the Information Technology Advisory Committee (2005, President Bush) and the National Science Board (2006 to 2012), the governing board for the National Science Foundation. Dr. Griffiths has testified before Congress and served on several blue-ribbon panels and committees for Federal agencies.

Among other positions she served as Vice President for Academic Affairs (Bryant University in Rhode Island, 2010-2015), Dean of the School of Information and Library Science (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2004-2009), Doreen E. Boyce Chair in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh (2001-2004), Chief Information Officer (University of Michigan, 1996-2001), and Director of the School of Information Sciences (1992-1996) and Vice-Chancellor (University of Tennessee-Knoxville, 1994-1996).

Her selection as Dakota State University's 23rd President was announced by the South Dakota Board of Regents on April 27, 2015. Griffiths called DSU "the MIT of the Plains States" in an interview that year.[4] In the role she has created millions of dollars in public/private partnerships for the university, resulting in new building construction, a complete institutional rebrand, and a cyber-research initiative with a workforce development pipeline and a research hub in two locations within the state. The university became recognized as a Consultant Cyber Defense Regional Resource Center, responsible for setting standards and providing leadership for cyber security education and research in 11 states and over 35 universities. Griffiths announced in October 2025 that she would transition to the new role of Chancellor at DSU at the end of the 2025-26 academic year.[5]

Griffiths is a productive researcher, authoring or co-authoring nine books, more than 100 articles, chapters in books, and international conference proceedings, and some 200 technical reports.

Publications

  • Griffiths, Jose-Marie & King, Donald W. (2011). A Strong Future for Public Library Use and Employment. ALA Editions.[6]
  • José-Marie Griffiths & Donald W. King. (2007). "Physical Spaces and Virtual Visitors: The Methodologies of Comprehensive Study of Users and Uses of Museums". In J. Trant and D. Bearman (eds), International Cultural Heritage Informatics Meeting (ICHIM07): Proceedings. Toronto: Archives & Museum Informatics. https://www.archimuse.com/ichim07/papers/griffiths/griffiths.html
  • President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (J. Griffiths, member). Computational Science: Ensuring America's Competitiveness. (2005)
  • Griffiths, J. (2000). ASIS '99 Award of Merit Acceptance Speech. Bulletin of ASIS 26 (2): 24-25. https://doi.org/10.1002/bult.147
  • Griffiths, Jose-Marie & King, Donald W. (1991). The Use and Value of Special Libraries. United States: Knowledge Industry Pubns. ISBN 9780867291575.
  • "New Directions for Library and Information Science Education" in Journal of Education for Librarianship (1986) and Final Report for ERIC (1985)

Awards

  • Resolution Honoring her Decade of Presidential Service, South Dakota Board of Regents, 2026
  • USA Today Woman of the Year for South Dakota, 2024
  • South Dakota Hall of Fame Inductee, 2023
  • American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS - Information, Computing, and Communication) Fellow
  • ASIST Award of Merit, 1999
  • Top 25 Women on the Web (WoW), San Francisco Women on the Web, 1999, 2007
  • ASIST Research in Information Science Award (with Donald W. King), 1990

Papers

Further Reading

  • "PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES DR. JOSE-MARIE GRIFFITHS TO THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON LIBRARIES AND INFORMATION SCIENCE". clintonwhitehouse6.archives.gov. 1996-12-23.[7]
  • "Speaker Biography: Jose-Marie Griffiths". Museums and the Web. archimuse.com. 2007.[8]
  • "Jose-Marie Griffiths". alastore.ala.org. [2011]. [9]
  • "José-Marie Griffiths: The Spider and the Web". WGBH Forum Network in partnership with the New England Chapter of ASIST. 2014-05-07.[10]
  • "Griffiths Chosen as Next Dakota State University President". Archived from the original on 2019-03-27. archive.org. 2015-04-27.[11]
  • ASIST Staff. (2015). ASIS&T Webinars Continue to Draw Huge Crowds. Bulletin of ASIST 41 (5): 8-12. https://doi.org/10.1002/bult.2015.1720410505
  • "José-Marie Griffiths". National Science and Technology Medals Foundation.[12]
  • "Dakota State University is Rising, Dr. Jose-Marie Griffiths, President". Rotary. 2017-11-27.[13]
  • "Daktronics Board of Directors announces Nancy Frame's retirement and nominates Dr. José-Marie Griffiths to the Board". Daktronics. 2020-06-05.[14]
  • "Helping others drives our Women of the Year. See what makes them proud". USA TODAY. 2024-02-29.[15]
  • "Legacy Dr. Jose'-Marie Griffiths - SD Hall of Fame Programs". sdexcellence.org. 2023.[16]
  • "Building a Dynamic Future with Dr. José-Marie Griffiths". South Dakota Storytellers Podcast. buzzsprout.com. 2024-02-10.[17]
  • "Mission and History". unc.sils.edu. 2025.[18]
  • "José-Marie Griffiths". Wikipedia. 2026.[19]
  • "Office of the President". Dakota State University. 2026.[20]
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