Ira Fuchs, vice president for computing and information technology, has been appointed to the newly created position of vice president for research in information technology at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, effective July 1. He will lead research initiatives intended to develop new ways in which information technologies, and particularly digital technologies, can benefit scholarship and research, teaching and learning.
Fuchs has served for 15 years as Princeton's vice president for computing and information technology, and he will continue to spend roughly one day a week advising the senior leadership of the University in its use of digital technologies.
In 1981 Fuchs was the cofounder of Bitnet, which at the time was the world's largest academic computing network and a precursor to the Internet. Since 1989, he has been president of the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking, an organization that fosters the use of networking technology in higher education.
"This is a very significant initiative by the Mellon Foundation and an exceptional opportunity for Ira to build on the leadership he has been providing for more than 20 years," said Princeton President Shapiro. "At the same time,I am very pleased that Ira will also continue to be a senior technology adviser to me, and I look forward to continuing collaboration between Princeton and the foundation in this field."
Fuchs' areas of activity will include investigating technical approaches to archiving and providing access to scholarly resources; design and creation of an archive intended to assemble and provide access to high quality art images in conjunction with text and associated scholarly materials; and other foundation-sponsored projects in the areas of scholarly communication, further development of digital libraries and cost-effective uses of technology in teaching, including online and distance learning.
Contact: Justin Harmon (609) 258-3601