Ira Fuchs

Ira Fuchs graduated from the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Sciences in 1969 with a B.S. (Applied Physics) and in 1976 with a M.S. (Computer Science and Electrical Engineering). From 1973, at the age of 24, until 1980 he served as the first Executive Director of the University Computer Center at The City University of New York (CUNY) and then as CUNY's Vice Chancellor of University Systems until 1985.

With Greydon Freeman, Mr. Fuchs co-founded BITNET in 1981 by initially connecting CUNY and Yale University. In the mid-1980s BITNET connected millions of users from more than 1,400 institutions of higher education, government laboratories, and IBM's VNET network. It was the first academic computer network to connect the United States to Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Israel, the USSR, and most of western Europe. Along with Daniel Oberst and Ricky Hernandez, Fuchs was co-inventor of LISTSERV, an electronic mailing list application. From 1984 until 1989 Mr. Fuchs was President of BITNET Inc. and from 1989 to 2003 he was President of the Corporation for Research and Educational Networking (CREN), a not-for-profit organization that operated the BITNET academic computer network, as well as the CSNET network.

From 1985 until 2000 Fuchs was vice president for Computing and Information Technology at Princeton University. In 1994, he was a co-founder of JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to archiving and providing access to important scholarly journals. He served as the first Chief Scientist of JSTOR from 1994–2000.

From 2000{{cite web|url=http://chronicle.com/article/Mellon-Foundation-Hires-Pri/33246/ |title=Fuchs joins Mellon Foundation |publisher=Chronicle.com |date=April 28, 2000 |access-date=January 12, 2012}} until 2010 he was vice president and Program Officer for Research in Information Technology{{cite web|url=http://rit.mellon.org |title=Research in Information Technology |publisher=Rit.mellon.org |access-date=January 12, 2012}} at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation,{{cite web |url=http://www.mellon.org/about_foundation/staff/program-area-staff/irafuchs |title=The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation |publisher=Mellon.org |access-date=January 12, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090728010738/http://www.mellon.org/about_foundation/staff/program-area-staff/irafuchs |archive-date=July 28, 2009 |url-status=dead }} where he directed the Foundation's grant making in the area of digital technologies that can be applied to academic and administrative use in colleges and universities, libraries, museums, and arts organizations. Open source software initiatives supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation include Sakai, uPortal, Kuali, Sophie, Chandler, Zotero, Open Knowledge Initiative, Bamboo,{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080513222855/http://www.projectbamboo.org/ Bamboo]}} CollectionSpace,{{cite web|url=http://www.collectionspace.org |title=CollectionSpace |publisher=CollectionSpace |access-date=January 12, 2012}} ConservationSpace, DecaPod,{{cite web|url=http://sites.google.com/site/decapodproject/ |title=Decapod |access-date=January 12, 2012}} Fedora, SIMILE, DSpace, FLUID,{{cite web|url=http://fluidproject.org/ |title=FLUID |publisher=Fluidproject.org |date=July 18, 2011 |access-date=January 12, 2012}} OpenCast,{{cite web |url=http://opencastproject.org/ |title=OpenCast |publisher=Opencastproject.org |access-date=January 12, 2012 |archive-date=August 10, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110810104608/http://www.opencastproject.org/ |url-status=dead }} SEASR, Visual Understanding Environment, and the Open Library Environment (OLE).{{cite web|url=http://oleproject.org/ |title=Open Library Environment |publisher=Oleproject.org |access-date=January 12, 2012}}

From 2010 until 2012 he was Executive Director of Next Generation Learning Challenges where he was responsible for the development and day-to-day operations of the program which provides grants, builds evidence, and develops an active community committed to identifying and scaling technology-enabled approaches that dramatically improve college readiness and completion.

Mr. Fuchs is currently a Director/Trustee of The Seeing Eye, and The Philadelphia Contributionship (the oldest property insurer in the US). He was also a Founding Trustee of JSTOR, USENIX, the Internet Society and a former Trustee of Mills College, Sarah Lawrence College, Princeton University Press, the Open Source Applications Foundation, Princeton Public Library (Princeton, NJ) (Treasurer), and the Global Education Learning Community.

• {{cite journal |last=Fuchs |first=Ira H. |author-link=Ira Fuchs |author-mask=1 |title=Prospects and Possibilities of the Digital Age |journal=Proc. Am. Philos. Soc. |date=March 2001 |volume=145 |issue=1 |pages=45–53 |isbn=1-4223-7275-8 |jstor=1558324 |url=http://www.amphilsoc.org/sites/default/files/proceedings/Fuchs.pdf}}
• {{cite journal |last=Fuchs |first=Ira H. |author-link=Ira Fuchs |author-mask=1 |title=The Promise and Challenge of New Technologies in Higher Education |journal=Proc. Am. Philos. Soc. |date=June 1998 |volume=142 |issue=2 |pages=191–206 |isbn=1-4223-7264-2 |jstor=3152298}}
• "Network Information is Not Free", Scholarly Publishing: The Electronic Frontier, Robin P. Peek and Gregory B. Newby, editors, Cambridge, MA, The MIT Press, 1996
• "Research Networks and Acceptable Use", Educom Bulletin, Vol 23, No.2/3, Summer/Fall 1988, pp 43–48
• {{cite journal |last1=Landweber |first1=Lawrence H. |author-link1=Lawrence Landweber |last2=Jennings |first2=Dennis M. |author-link2=Dennis Jennings (Internet pioneer) |last3=Fuchs |first3=Ira |author-link3=Ira Fuchs |author-mask3=1 |title=Research Computer Networks and Their Interconnection |journal=IEEE Communications Magazine |date=June 1986 |volume=23 |issue=6 |pages=5–17 |doi=10.1109/MCOM.1986.1093103|s2cid=43336384 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Jennings |first1=Dennis M. |author-link1=Dennis Jennings (Internet pioneer) |last2=Landweber |first2=Lawrence H. |author-link2=Lawrence Landweber |last3=Fuchs |first3=Ira H. |author-link3=Ira Fuchs |last4=Farber |first4=David J. |author-link4=David J. Farber |last5=Adrion |first5=W. Richards |author-mask3=1 |title=Computer Networking for Scientists |journal=Science |date=28 February 1986 |volume=231 |issue=4741 |pages=943–950 |doi=10.1126/science.231.4741.943 |jstor=1696954 |pmid=17740290|bibcode=1986Sci...231..943J }}
• {{cite journal |last=Fuchs |first=Ira H. |author-link=Ira Fuchs |author-mask=1 |title=BITNET – Because It's Time |journal=Perspectives in Computing |date=March 1983 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=16–27 |publisher=IBM}}

• Internet Hall of Fame, [https://www.internethalloffame.org/inductees/ira-fuchs inducted 2017][https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEtCbwQ3hC8 (Video)]
• [https://honorsandawards.iu.edu/presidential/benton-medal.shtml Indiana University's Thomas Hart Benton Mural Medallion - 2011] [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXXqohA-e1E (Video)]
• Educause- [https://www.educause.edu/careers/awards-program/leadership-award/leadership-award-recipients/2010-award-recipient Excellence in Leadership 2010 (Award acknowledges leadership within higher education information technology)]
• Educause- [https://www.educause.edu/careers/awards-program/leadership-award/leadership-award-recipients Excellence in Leadership 2000 (Highest professional award given to a CIO of an academic institution)]
• Internet Innovator Award, Technology New Jersey Inc. 1999

{{reflist}}

• [https://internethalloffame.org/blog/2018/08/04/how-ham-radio-inspired-internet "How a Ham Radio Inspired the Internet", Internet Hall of Fame, August 2018]
• [https://er.educause.edu/articles/2001/1/archimedes-lever-and-collaboration-an-interview-with-ira-fuchs "Archimedes' Lever and Collaboration: An Interview with Ira Fuchs" by Richard N. Katz], Educause, March/April 2001
• [http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/matters/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2018/02/2006-september.pdf CUNY Matters, September, 2006, Page 8]
• [http://chronicle.com/article/Needed-an-Educore-to-Aid/13406/ "Needed: an 'Educore' to Aid Collaboration", Chronicle of Higher Education, September 2004, Volume 51, Issue 5, Page B19]
• [https://er.educause.edu/articles/2011/5/collaboration-for-a-positivesum-outcome-an-interview-with-ira-h-fuchs" Collaboration for a Positive-Sum Outcome: An Interview with Ira H. Fuchs" by Christopher J. Mackie, Educause Review, Volume 46, Number 3, May/June 2011]
• [http://bit.net/Packet_Magazine_Oct.pdf Princeton Packet Magazine, October 2015]
• [https://www.encyclopedia.com/economics/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/fuchs-ira Encyclopedia.com, February 2021]
• [https://entrepreneurshandbook.co/why-everyone-forgets-about-the-global-computer-network-that-came-before-the-internet-1db0c7c12ce0 Entrepreneur's Handbook, April 2021]
• [https://latonas.com/blog/web-masters-episode-32-ira-fuchs/ Web Masters Episode #32, April 2021] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220930120455/https://latonas.com/blog/web-masters-episode-32-ira-fuchs/ |date=September 30, 2022 }}

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Category:Living people

Category:1948 births

Category:American computer scientists

Category:Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Category:Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni