Maria E. Gonzalez is an Assistant Professor in the Library and Information Science Program. Prior to joining the LIS faculty, Gonzalez enjoyed a 20-year career in project development and construction management. During those years, she actively participated in numerous boards and organizations including Leadership Tomorrow, the Planning Commission of the City of Seattle, the City of Seattle Design Review Board, the Board of AIDS Housing of Washington, and the Seattle Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

She has conducted research and served as consultant to national and international organizations in areas of civil, legal, and physical infrastructure; disaster preparedness and risk reduction. She has investigated the administration and preservation policies of library and archival collections in Argentina, Chile, Cuba, Dutch Antilles, Mexico, and Trinidad as well as in the United States.

She currently teaches Introduction to the LIS Profession, Access to Information, and Public Libraries.

• University of Texas at Austin, Ph.D., Library and Information Science, 2008
• University of Texas at Austin, Certificate of Specialization in Preservation Administration, 2001
• University of Texas at Austin, MLIS, 2001
   

• Beta Phi Mu Harold Lancour Scholarship for Foreign Study, 2006-2007
• Editorial Fellowship, Libraries & Culture, 2004-2005
• Gates Millennium Scholar, 2000-2005
• American Library Association Spectrum Scholar, 1999-2000
• City of Seattle Millennium Ambassador
   

Public, urban and national libraries; sociology of cultural production, destruction, and reconstruction; international preservation administration; and cultural heritage policy.

Gonzalez is the author of Huracán Caribe, a Spanish language primer on disaster prevention for libraries and archives in the Caribbean. She curated The Study of the Spanish-Speaking People of Texas, a digital online exhibit of unpublished photographs commissioned in 1949 for a socio-economic survey of the Mexican American communities in Texas. In addition, she has published several articles about disaster response and recuperation and community documentation strategies.