Terry Dawson Receives Outstanding Alumni Award

The University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley Foundation will present Terry Dawson, director of the Appleton Public Library since 1996, with one of two 2010 Outstanding Alumni Awards at commencement ceremonies this Thursday, May 20 at 7:00 p.m.

Terry attended UWFox from 1966 to 1968. During his time on campus he was active in student government and in the effort to bring Dr. Martin Luther King to the campus. He received his B.A. in English from UW-Madison in 1972 and his M.A. in Library Science from UW-Madison in 1975. Since 1996 he has served as Director of the Appleton Public Library. An active and long-time member of the Wisconsin Library Association, he served on and chaired a variety of committees and was elected President of the WLA in 2004.

In addition to his deep devotion to public library services, Dawson has been very actively involved in the Fox Cities community. He has served as President of "Toward Community: Unity in Diversity" and President of the Fox Valley Library Council. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Fox Cities Rotary Multicultural Center; Appleton Downtown Inc.; Green Apple Folk Music Society; and IndUS Fox Valley. He serves on the Barlow Planetarium Advisory Committee and the NEW World Cinema Committee. He is a member of the Rotary Club of Appleton and co-chair of the building committee of the Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Appleton.

In 1998 Dawson was awarded the MCI Wisconsin Cybrarian of the Year Award. At that time it was said that he has been a leader in the use of computer technology to provide access to information and library services in the Fox Cities. He helped Appleton create the first public library website in Wisconsin and was a part of the initial efforts to form a community network, which ultimately grew into Fox Communities Online, serving as FOCOL Board President in 1995 and as the first webmaster for the City of Appleton.

Dawson met his wife of 40 years, Marsha, while they were students at UWFox. They both continue to regularly support UWFox and can be found serving their culinary specialties as chefs at the annuale.a.t.s. fundraiser for scholarships for needy students enrolled at UWFox.