Nita Awatramani

Nita Awatramani is the Assistant Vice President and Chief Information Security Officer of Kansas State University, appointed in May 2025. The appointment followed a national search and took effect June 22, 2025. News of the appointment was circulated by the Office of the Vice President for Administration and Finance on May 9, 2025.

Career path

Before joining K-State, Awatramani served as executive program director for security strategy and execution at the University of Southern California. In that role she led USC's Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification 2.0 compliance program, built to protect the university's intellectual property, research funding and reputation as a top-tier R1 research institution.

Earlier, Awatramani was senior information risk management and audit management manager at Verizon, Corporate Information Security. There she provided strategic insights on regulatory changes and emerging technologies, assessing their impact and associated risks.

Remit at K-State

At K-State, Awatramani works alongside Thomas Bunton, associate vice president and chief information officer for the Division of Information Technology. She leads the university's efforts to strengthen its cybersecurity readiness and to formalize and mature its information security management program. Her duties include leading a team of IT professionals, managing the university's cybersecurity strategy, and making decisions on risk assessments, security measures and responses to emerging threats. Bunton said Awatramani "understands the challenges that higher education institutions face, particularly R1 research institutions."

Education and broader university work

Awatramani holds a Master of Science in cybersecurity from Purdue Global, a Master of Computer Applications in Computer Science from the Institute of Management Technology, and a Bachelor of Science with mathematics honors from Calcutta University. She also holds various cybersecurity certifications.

Awatramani was named to a university task force on generative artificial intelligence, convened by Provost and Executive Vice President Jesse Perez Mendez, serving in her capacity as assistant vice president and chief information security officer for the Division of Information Technology. The task force also includes members from the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering, the Kansas State University Research Foundation, the College of Agriculture, K-State Libraries and other units. Kansas State University also held an AI Research, Teaching, and Writing Retreat in August 2025, part of the university's wider work on artificial intelligence during the same period as the task force's formation.