c1-c4CAMSO08 8/20/08 11:16 AM Page c1 September | October 2008 $6.00 Alumni Magazine Truth Is Dead Former Daily Sun editor Farhad Manjoo ’00 laments our ‘post-fact society’ cornellalumnimagazine.com c1-c4CAMSO08 8/14/08 3:48 PM Page c2 002-003CAMso08skorton 8/14/08 3:31 PM Page 2 From David Skorton A Chat with Chris Marshall ew relationships are as important to me as those with Cornell alumni. I enjoy the conversations we’ve had through this column and the feedback Fyou provide, and I continue to be impressed by the superb leadership within the Division of Alumni Affairs and Development. I recently had a great con- versation with Chris Marshall, our new associate vice president for alumni affairs. Here’s an excerpt: David Skorton: How do Cornell alumni compare with those of other schools in terms of alumni activity? Chris Marshall: There are few—if any—other uni- versities that can claim alumni as loyal as Cornell’s. That loyalty translates into involvement on many levels, from simply reading the alumni magazine or the e-news, to attending events, to volunteering for JASON KOSKI / UP the admissions network, class councils, and regional Meeting of the minds: Cornell’s new associate VP for alumni club boards, or to contributing their financial affairs enjoys “casual Friday” in President Skorton’s office. resources. DS: For many years, Cornell has emphasized under- graduate classes and regional clubs in creating alumni programs. the biggest need for that nudge. If, for example, we send a young Are there other, better ways to connect with alumni and link alumna a reunion invitation through the mail to her home them with each other? address, we’re missing the boat on three fronts: CM: Absolutely! The concept of affinity programs is already 1) Young alumni prefer electronic communication—Facebook, alive and well at Cornell—Cornell Entrepreneur Network, Cor- LinkedIn, text messages, instant messages, and e-mail. nell Silicon Valley, PCCW, and Mosaic events, to name just a few. 2) Many of the addresses in our database are outdated. Young We just need to turn up the volume a bit. By “affinity” I mean alumni, generally speaking, are not all that interested in keeping any group that can connect alumni to Cornell and each other— Cornell up to date about where they live and work. colleges, majors, athletics, Greek life, and music are all good 3) Class reunions don’t appeal to young alumni. The percentages examples. Or it could be via professional interests—career pro- speak volumes: Cornell averages around 14 percent reunion grams are a hot trend in alumni relations, and Cornell needs to attendance—and, nationally speaking, this is a very good result— be fully in the game. We need to organize our programs and but affinity group reunions routinely attract 50 to 60 percent events around entities that are meaningful to our graduates. attendance. We need to augment and enhance our reunion pro- DS: More and more communication, especially among young gram to include this affinity concept. alumni, is being done on the Internet. What can Cornell do to DS: How do you measure the success of alumni programs? use technology to better serve its graduates? CM: For a long time, alumni relations has been considered more CM: Frankly, we’re behind in this area. Before I even started in of an art than a science. I don’t buy that. I was a collegiate swim- this position I began looking at software solutions that can help ming coach for twelve years; we measured our success to the us provide a true online community to our graduates: a search- hundredth of a second, and at the end of the day we had a score- able online directory; an event management tool for online reg- board that told us how we did. That same concept must be istration and payment for events; a comprehensive suite of serv- applied to alumni affairs. We’re going to measure everything! ices including class notes, affinity group notes, and social There are more than 200 data points that we will measure annu- networking. It will take some time to pull all this together, but ally, track over time, and compare to our peer institutions. We look for it in early 2009. should also ask our alumni how we’re doing, so every four or DS: There are many alumni who are not actively involved, yet five years we’ll conduct an attitudinal study to take their pulse. could become so with just a nudge. Based on your experience, Without that feedback, we’ll just be spinning our wheels. Of what’s the best way to do this? course, not all feedback is quantitative. Some of the best comes CM: We do a really good job of connecting with our alumni from just listening to alumni. I plan on getting out there, meet- from the Thirties, Forties, Fifties, Sixties, and most of the Sev- ing them, and hearing firsthand how they feel about Cornell. enties—but as we get to our more recent graduates, there is a vis- — President David Skorton ible downward shift in involvement. Our younger alumni have [email protected] 2 Cornell Alumni Magazine | cornellalumnimagazine.com 002-003CAMso08skorton 8/14/08 3:31 PM Page 3 004-005CAMso08bigpic 8/14/08 3:32 PM Page 4 The Big Picture Gates of Heaven Local blacksmith Durand Van Doren spent six months crafting an intricate iron gate for Minns Garden, located along Tower Road on the Ag Quad. Designed by Han- nah Carlson, a master’s candidate in landscape architecture, the gate features flowers such as tulips, daisies, and daffodils—down to scientifically accurate depictions of their root systems. The twenty- four-foot-wide gate was installed in May with the aim of keeping deer out of the historic garden; Van Doren also made two smaller gates, whose posts resemble the trunks of apple trees. “It’s been a lot of fun,” he says, “and also my hardest work yet.” JASON KOSKI / UP 4 Cornell Alumni Magazine | cornellalumnimagazine.com 004-005CAMso08bigpic 8/14/08 3:32 PM Page 5 September | October 2008 5 006-009CAMso08corresp 8/14/08 3:34 PM Page 6 Correspondence Mastering the Plan Alumni wonder if bigger is better Having read the article about the Cornell the expansion.) I know that an Ivy Master Plan (“Looking Ahead,” July/ League campus may no longer look idyl- August 2008), all I can say is that I feel lic—and some never did—but the danger somewhat overwhelmed. The Cornell I is that Cornell will resemble one of the attended in the early Sixties was huge, but admittedly excellent but mammoth state we somehow managed to change from universities, even though it has less than one class to another in the allotted ten half the population of many of them and minutes. The map of the enlarged campus does not expect to grow that much. envisioned by the Master Plan makes that Janet Senderowitz Loengard ’55 look like an impossibility for some com- Bernardsville, New Jersey binations of classrooms. I guess my main problem in digesting I came to Cornell in 1953 and was all this lies with the notion that bigger is instantly absorbed into its elms, buildings, better. While not necessarily subscribing and vitality. I’ve seen the architectural to that philosophy, I do find it comforting evolution and the expansion of the built- that present-day planners are trying to live up campus perimeter. It won’t stop! up to Ezra’s desire to educate any person A symbolic step to preserve Cornell’s in any study. Obviously, that can’t be history in future structures would be to accomplished in a one-room schoolhouse. take a brick or stone from one of the orig- Dave Bridgeman ’65 inal buildings and include it in the corner- San Jacinto, California stone of each new building, with an appro- the continued expansion of facilities. The priate reference on the new cornerstone. Bigger is not always better! I am surprised Cornell Master Plan shows that many This bit of historic “pollination” would that the Master Plan does not include new buildings may be built, filling in open help to answer someone’s question in 2108: such items as placing buildings over the spaces along Tower Road and on Hoy “Where did this enterprise begin?” gorges (probably with glass bottoms), thus Field. This seems to be a continuation of Paul Snare ’56, MBA ’58 showing “advanced planning.” Cornell the trend that has added about 1 million University Place, Washington cannot be everything to everyone; the square feet of buildings every decade. Is Master Plan needs to have less emphasis this much more space really needed to Earned Honors on physical properties and more empha- maintain Cornell’s reputation as a top Re: “Standing on Principle” and “Degrees sis on what the Cornell of the future teaching and research institution? Could- of Separation” (July/August 2008): As I should be. After that, refurbish or add a n’t most new academic projects be accom- read about the Faculty Senate’s vote to limited number of physical properties to modated by renovating existing buildings, reject the request of Weill Cornell Medical meet the need. since student enrollment is projected to College for the granting of honorary William Gibson ’48 stay about the same? degrees, a large smile came on my face, as Danville, California Peter Harriott ’48 they had reaffirmed one of the things that Ithaca, New York makes Cornell special. I find the practice Last year, President Skorton committed of giving large donors or politicians such the University to achieving climate neu- It was rather hard to orient oneself from honors cheapens the sacrifices and hard trality for the campus by the year 2050, the illustrations in the magazine, but I am work of the graduates.