The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) Alumni Association has selected Wilfred W. Fong (MLIS Library and Information Studies ’85) as the 2007 Distinguished Alumnus in Library and Information Science. He will be recognized at the UWM Alumni Association Awards ceremony on May 19, 2007, and introduced by UWM Chancellor Carlos E. Santiago at the UWM Commencement exercises on May 20, 2007.

Fong, a former faculty member in the UWM School of Information Studies (SOIS), is Associate Dean and Acting Director of IT Programs of the Faculty of Business and Information Technology at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. He is a founding faculty member of that newly established university in Oshawa, Ontario, and developed Master of Information Technology Security program, the first and only program of its kind in Canada. He also developed a Bachelor of Information Technology program, which offers specialties in game development and entrepreneurship, networking and IT security with Cisco Network Academy partnership.

In his capacity as Resource Center Manager and later Assistant Dean in the UWM School of Information Studies (SOIS), Fong helped with the development of the School’s program which has grown to become one of the largest and most prominent in the country. He also provided support for the School’s first online and hybrid courses and joined other SOIS faculty in teaching library and information science courses and training librarians in Mexico, Hong Kong, Kuwait, Malaysia, Egypt, India, and other places around the world.

Fong assisted former Dean of the UWM SOIS, Professor Mohammed Aman in developing the MiTech/IT2000 project, which trained thousands of minority and disadvantaged high school students to use computer and information technology. Funded by the Helen Bader Foundation and the Private Industry Council, the program received national attention and was received the U.S Department of Labor’s Region V award for best practices.

His publications have appeared in several journals, including Electronic Library, and Library and Information Technology. His first book entitled Information Resources on the Information Superhighway was published in 1998. Fong is currently an editor of the Journal of Library and Information Science.

Fong is a life member of the Chinese-American Librarians Association, serving as its President in 1995-1996.