Bobby Fong

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Page Module:Infobox/styles.css has no content.

Page Module:Infobox/styles.css has no content.Page Module:Infobox/styles.css has no content.Page Module:Infobox/styles.css has no content.
Bobby Fong
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:InfoboxImage/data' not found.
Fong in 2013
Page Module:Infobox/styles.css has no content.
15th President of Ursinus College
In office
Template:En dash range
Preceded byJohn Strassburger
Succeeded byTerry Winegar (interim)
Brock Blomberg
20th President of Butler University
In office
Template:En dash range
Preceded byGeoffrey Bannister
Succeeded byJames Danko
Personal details
BornScript error: No such module "person date".
DiedScript error: No such module "person date".
SpouseScript error: No such module "Detect singular".Suzanne Fong
EducationHarvard University (BA)
University of California, Los Angeles (PhD)
Script error: No such module "Template wrapper".Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters".

Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters".

Bobby Fong (c. 1950 – September 8, 2014) was an American academic and the President of Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania.[1]

Background

Fong grew up in Chinatown in Oakland, California, the son of Chinese immigrants. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in English and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1978 he earned a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of California, Los Angeles, writing his dissertation on the works of Oscar Wilde.[2]

His academic career began at Berea College. He later served as Dean of Arts and Humanities and Professor of English at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. In 1995 he became Dean of the Faculty and Professor of English at Hamilton College (New York).

Butler University

On June 1, 2001, Fong became the 20th president of Butler University in Indianapolis.

In 2010, Butler's surprising run in the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship tournament brought the small school and its president national attention. Butler advanced to the Final Four, beating Michigan State before losing to Duke in the championship game.

In a profile in The New York Times, Fong spoke about finding the right balance for college athletics. "We work from the presumption that there should be not a gap between academic excellence and athletic excellence," he told author William C. Rhoden. "The expectation is that you are here to be a student first."[3] In a column for the Chronicle of Higher Education, Fong noted that "for many people, we exemplified how a university could seek a proper balance between academic seriousness and athletic excellence—and without breaking the bank."[4]

In October, 2010, Fong announced that he would leave Butler the following summer to assume the presidency at Ursinus.[5]

Ursinus College

Fong became president of Ursinus on July 1, 2011.[6]

In 2012, he was elected Chair of the Board of the Association of American Colleges and Universities,[7] a national association concerned with the quality, vitality, and public standing of undergraduate liberal education.

A 2012 profile in The Philadelphia Inquirer noted that at the time, Fong was one of only 40 Asian Americans serving as college presidents in the U.S.[8]

On September 8, 2014, Fong died suddenly of natural causes at his home in Collegeville.[9]

Fong is credited for spearheading a strategic plan for Ursinus College that aimed to strengthen Ursinus's core curriculum in the liberal arts, while building on its recognition domestically and abroad. One of his highest priorities as president also included planning a new Innovation and Discovery center, a building that will connect the current two science buildings on campus, and which will provide a space that will foster the continued growth and connectivity of the sciences across interdisciplinary fields.

Awards

In 2011 Fong received the President's Awards from National Association of Student Personnel Administrators for his efforts to advance the quality of student life at Butler and throughout higher education.[10]

See also

References

Page Template:Reflist/styles.css has no content.

  1. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Former Butler University president Bobby Fong dies - 13 WTHR Indianapolis". Archived from the original on 2014-10-10. Retrieved 2014-09-08.
  2. ^ UCLA Library Catalog The Poetry of Oscar Wilde
  3. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.William C. Rhoden (2010-03-31). "For Butler's President, Excellence Is Expected". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-08-30.
  4. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Bobby Fong (2010-04-10). "How Butler Won the NCAA Tournament". Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 2013-08-30.
  5. ^ Bobby Fong To Become 13th President of Ursinus College Script error: No such module "webarchive".
  6. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Ursinus College - President Bobby Fong". Archived from the original on 2012-12-01. Retrieved 2013-08-30.
  7. ^ Association of American Colleges and Universities Announces Seven New Directors and New Slate of Officers for Board of Directors Script error: No such module "webarchive".
  8. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Jeff Gammage (2012-02-03). "Ursinus' Fong a rare Asian American college president". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on December 15, 2012. Retrieved 2013-08-30.
  9. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Susan Snyder (2014-09-10). "Ursinus President Bobby Fong, 64, dies of natural causes". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  10. ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Fong to Receive National Award". Inside Indiana Business. 2011-01-05. Archived from the original on 2013-06-01. Retrieved 2013-08-30.

”Bobby Fong Remembered for His Many Contributions to Butler” by Marc Allan https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-42379-6 “The Rise of Chinese American Leaders in U.S. Higher Education: Stories and Roadmaps” edited by Honggang Yang and Wenying Xu, December 2023

Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Authority control/config' not found.