Lian Ruan (MS '90, PhD '11) has been selected as the recipient for the 2019 Chinese American Librarians Association (CALA) Distinguished Service Award. According to the announcement from CALA, "Dr. Ruan has been dedicated to Chinese-American librarianship throughout her career. She has committed to the growth and integrity of CALA as a strong ethnic professional association through her outstanding leadership [as Vice-President, President, and Executive Director], passionate activism, and professional involvement."
She will receive the Distinguished Service Award at the CALA Awards Reception during the 2019 ALA Annual Conference next month in Washington, DC.
Ruan joined the University of Illinois in 1999, becoming the head librarian of the Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI). Beginning in 2005, she has led the IFSI Chinese Librarians Scholarly Exchange Program which has trained more than 340 librarians from all over China. Ruan has been recognized both nationally and internationally for her commitment to excellence in the profession; recent honors include the 2017 Illinois Academic Librarian of the year Award and the 2016 CALA President Recognition Award.
Ruan earned her MS and PhD in library and information science from Illinois, MA in African history from UCLA, and bachelor's degree in world history from Peking University in China.