Announcing Christy Stevens as Interim Dean, J. Paul Leonard Library

Christy Stevens has been appointed Interim Dean of the J. Paul Leonard Library, effective October 1, 2024. Having served as the Associate University Librarian for the past six years, Christy is well positioned to lead the Library through this transitional period.

Christy brings over 21 years of experience in academic libraries to the Interim Dean role, 18 of which have been at CSU libraries, and she has demonstrated a career-long commitment to student learning and success. Prior to taking on the Associate University Librarian position at San Francisco State, Christy served as the Associate Dean of the Library at CSU Dominguez Hills. From 2008 to 2016, she was a library faculty member at Cal Poly Pomona, where she made her way through the ranks to full librarian, serving first as the library’s Information Literacy Coordinator and later as the Head of Research Assistance & Instruction. Christy’s first position in the CSU was at Sacramento State University in 2006, where she served as the Humanities & Online Learning Librarian. She started her career in libraries in 2003 as an Instruction Librarian at the University of West Georgia, where she taught credit-bearing information literacy courses both online and in person. 

Christy earned her Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of Iowa and holds additional master's degrees in English and Women’s Studies from UC Irvine and San Diego State, respectively. She also completed the Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians through the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She has held leadership positions in the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), including chairing ACRL’s Instruction Section.

During her time at San Francisco State, Christy has collaborated with library faculty and staff on several antiracism initiatives, including the development of a library antiracism statement and the formation of the Library’s One Library, Many Stories: Antiracism group, which develops programming that engages Library employees in antiracism-related discussions through the framework of shared readings and videos. She also encouraged and oversaw the development of the Library’s Peer Mentor Program, which trains student assistants to provide front-line information and research support to their peers. During the pandemic, Christy helped develop library health and safety protocols and played an important role in listening to, communicating about, and developing responses to pandemic-related questions and concerns. She also oversaw the implementation of a college-based library liaison team structure that has helped ensure greater consistency of service to all colleges through collaboration and cross-training.

In her role as Interim Dean, Christy will manage the Library’s operations and work collaboratively with faculty and staff to continue to provide excellent resources and services for the SF State community. She can be reached at crstevens@sfsu.edu.

Updated Dec. 6, 2024