Cornell Alumni Magazine
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
c1-c4CAMmj11 4/13/11 11:34 AM Page c1 May | June 2011 $6.00 Alumni Magazine Museum Quality With the Johnson expansion nearly done, Frank Robinson retires— but he’s not going far cornellalumnimagazine.com c1-c4CAMmj11 4/13/11 11:34 AM Page c2 01-01CAMmj11toc 4/13/11 11:02 AM Page 1 May / June 2011 Volume 113 Number 6 In This Issue Corne Alumni Magazine 46 2 From David Skorton Leadership qualities 4 The Big Picture Heavy metal 6 Correspondence Lesson plans 10 From the Hill 40 View from the bridges 14 Sports That championship season 34 It’s a Wonderful Life 16 Authors Tiger tale BETH SAULNIER 29 Finger Lakes Listing For two decades, Frank Robinson has been director of the Johnson Museum, a post that marries his many talents—from management to fundraising to cheerleading to 52 Classifieds & looking good in a Santa suit. He’ll step down at the end of June, segueing to a part- Cornellians in Business time position in development. To mark his retirement, CAM asked Robinson to take 53 Alma Matters readers on a mini-tour of his favorite works of art at the museum—including a certain sculpture that the University refused to part with, even for a cool $104 million. 56 Class Notes 40 The Big Grapple 94 Alumni Deaths 96 Cornelliana BRAD HERZOG ’90 RIP, Boiler Eight To the roster of top-flight Cornell sports like hockey and lacrosse, add one more: wrestling. With its own training facility and a singularly dedicated coach, the program has been on the rise over the past decade. In March, the Big Red sent nine wrestlers to Special Section Philadelphia for the NCAA Championships, where the grapplers faced traditional Mid- THE WINES OF west powerhouses as well as rivals closer to home. Could they top last year’s second- NEW YORK STATE place finish? 46 Generation Tech ADRIENNE ZABLE ’11 Currents As technology alters countless aspects of society, it is inevitably transforming the stu- dent experience. These days, few undergrads have known a world without the Internet—and some aspects of college, both social and academic, hardly resemble uni- 18 Case Closed versity life of years past. (Remember pay phones? Letters home? Waiting in line for Justice for Patricia Scoville ’86 course enrollment?) A student journalist explores Cornell in the age of the Internet, Bedtime Stories mobile computing, and social networking. Altschuler on Vonnegut Hooray for Howlywood Doctors to the stars Visit CAM Online Cover photograph: Lindsay France, Weed Wacky cornellalumnimagazine.com University Photography In defense of unwanted plants Cornell Alumni Magazine (ISSN 1548-8810; USPS 006-902) is published six times a year, in January, March, May, July, September, and November, by the Cornell Alumni Association, 401 East State Street, Suite 301, Ithaca, NY 14850. Subscriptions cost $30 a year. Periodical postage paid at Ithaca, NY, and additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Cornell Alumni Magazine, c/o Public Affairs Records, 130 East Seneca St., Suite 400, Ithaca, NY 14850-4353. May | June 2011 1 02-03CAMmj11skorton 4/13/11 11:03 AM Page 2 From David Skorton University Governance: An Alumni Tradition n January 1, 2012, Peter Meinig ’61 will complete twenty years as a Cornell trustee, including his extraor- Odinary leadership and service as the Board’s chair since July 2002. We will then welcome a distin- guished new leader, Robert Harrison ’76, as chair. I’ll have more on that transition—and on Pete Meinig’s remarkable legacy—in a future issue. The transition to new Board leadership and the recently completed election for alumni-elected trustees provide an occasion to reflect more broadly on the role that Cornell alumni have played in governing our university. Time and again, over a span of 137 years, they have stepped up to the challenge—not for financial gain or per- sonal glory, but out of deep love for the institution and the desire to guide it to an even better future. A year after the University's founding, Presi- dent Andrew Dickson White noted in his “Plan of Organization” that when the alumni body reached a sufficient number it should annually choose a representative to serve on the Board of Trustees. That “sufficient number” became available six years later, in 1872, and provision was made for ROBERT BARKER / UP the “Associate Alumni” to elect a trustee—mak- ing Cornell one of the very first American universities to have Trustees have fiduciary responsibility in overseeing the alumni representation on its governing board. University’s programs and assets, are charged with selecting its The first alumni-elected trustee was Samuel Halliday of the president, and give the final approval of tenure decisions and of Class of 1870, elected in 1874, and Cornell alumni have had sub- faculty elected to named chairs, among other responsibilities. Our stantial responsibility for the governance of the University ever since. trustees also represent a wealth of talent and expertise that has This year’s alumni trustee election gave us the youngest and been especially important in these difficult economic times. In most geographically diverse candidates for alumni-elected trustees general, the old maxim of “Noses in, fingers out” aptly describes in Cornell’s history. Mitchell Lee ’90, JD ’96, Rana Glasgal ’87, the Board’s responsibility to provide high-level oversight rather ME ’92, Gregory Galvin, PhD ’84, and Eva Sage-Gavin ’80 than day-to-day decision making. However, in the face of the exemplify the range of backgrounds and diversity of leadership unprecedented financial challenges that Cornell faced during the roles that our alumni are willing to assume in their regions, for Great Recession, I greatly appreciated the experience and expert- their classes, for their colleges, and for the University as a whole. ise in fiscal management that many of our trustees possess. At The election stimulated the highest voter turnout ever, and I have the administration’s request, the Board formed task forces to par- no doubt that the newly elected trustees, Glasgal and Galvin, will ticipate as teams with senior administrators to formulate carry forward the tradition of exemplary alumni leadership in responses to the challenges of the recession, and I believe that the governance of the University throughout their terms. our current position of relative financial strength is due, to a sub- The current Board of Trustees comprises sixty-four voting stantial degree, to the teamwork between the administration and members: some are appointed by the governor with confirma- the trustees. tion by the State Senate; some, including the governor and state All of us on Cornell’s campuses—faculty, staff, and stu- legislative leaders, are ex-officio; one is the eldest lineal descen- dents—should be grateful for the devotion, expertise, and deep dant of Ezra Cornell; but the vast majority—fifty-six trustees— commitment of our Board of Trustees, and for the alumni lead- may be “selected in such manner and for such terms as the Board ership it represents. As we welcome new alumni-elected trustees of Trustees may determine” as long as those selected include at to the Board for terms that begin on July 1 and prepare for the least two members each from the fields of agriculture, business, transition in leadership next January, I invite all alumni to share and labor in New York State; two faculty-elected trustees; two in Cornell’s governance by continuing to vote for alumni-elected student-elected trustees; one employee-elected (i.e., non-faculty trustees and by participating in activities that provide pathways staff) trustee; and eight trustees elected by the alumni body as a to alumni leadership posts. whole. In practice, most of the other board-elected trustees are — President David Skorton also alumni. [email protected] 2 Cornell Alumni Magazine | cornellalumnimagazine.com 02-03CAMmj11skorton 4/13/11 11:03 AM Page 3 04-05CAMmj11bigpic 4/13/11 11:05 AM Page 4 The Big Picture 4 Cornell Alumni Magazine | cornellalumnimagazine.com 04-05CAMmj11bigpic 4/13/11 11:05 AM Page 5 Steel Yourselves At the 110th Dragon Day in March, the eponymous beast was an aesthetic departure from years past. Made of cool gray steel, the minimalist dragon was suspended from four towers connected to a frame mounted to the chassis of a Volks- wagen Microbus. Accompanied by first- year architecture students, it swayed its way across campus to face the engineers’ traditional phoenix. UPHOTO May | June 2011 5 06-09CAMmj11corresp 4/13/11 11:07 AM Page 6 Correspondence School Daze The education debate continues The interviews with Michelle Rhee ’92 past fall I gave an exam and the and Randi Weingarten ’80 were interest- average grade was 75; I gave virtu- ing, enlightening, and disturbing (“Pop ally the same exam two weeks ago Quiz,” March/April 2011). I have worked and even made it a little easier (or in union and non-union manufacturing so I thought)—and the average was facilities, and have seen an evolution in 64. Who was responsible? Me? The the attitude between labor and manage- students? When either Rhee or ment over the past fifty years. In those Weingarten has an answer for that, environments—industrial, academic, and please let me know. Until I have an governmental—in which a collaborative answer, my frustrations will con- attitude is fostered, the organization pros- tinue, and I will still look for ways pers. And it does not matter what services to convince students that chemistry or products are produced. Everyone from is important. the CEO to the janitor has a stake in the William Eisen ’56 health of every organization.