CAMPUS NEWS From the Hill Testing, Public Health Efforts Mark Cornell’s COVID-Era Return

This summer, as the University prepared low incidence of the virus: of the nearly they’re coming from. (For more details on to welcome students back to the Hill, it took 1,000 faculty and staff and more than 3,200 the reopening plan and the rationale be­ numerous steps to try to ensure safety, students (two-thirds of whom were grad hind it, see “From the President” on page 6.) including implementing an in-house testing students and one-third undergrads) tested, The public health campaign includes program for COVID-19 and launching a pub­ there were only five positives: two from the a website (covid.cornell.edu/smarter) with lic health campaign about the importance of faculty-staff group and three students. “It links to information on the testing program, following preventive guidelines. The testing was important to understand what our cur­ campus re-entry, the required daily health site, with samples processed by the Vet col­ rent prevalence was before a lot of students self-assessment, State quar­ lege, has been headquartered at the Fischell came back, and we’re gratified that it’s so antine rules, the value of face masks in Band Center adjacent to Schoellkopf Field. low,” said Gary Koretzky ’78, vice provost for preventing viral spread, the behavioral In early August, University officials report­ academic integration and professor of med­ compact for students, and much more. The ed that initial results had indicated a very icine at Weill Cornell. “It’s clear that most University has also produced education­ people are being careful, and we want to al posters and floor decals on such topics encourage that to continue.” as elevator etiquette, mask protocols, and The University has also outlined its social distancing. “It’s critical that we as a testing plan for fall, which has three com­ community do all we can to create an envi­ ponents: arrival testing of all students ronment that does not create added risk as part of their re-entry to campus; test­ for the more vulnerable among us,” said ing anyone in the Cornell community who Timothy Marchell ’82, BS ’83, director of has symptoms of COVID-19 or has been in the Skorton Center for Health Initiatives close contact with someone who does; and at Cornell Health. “The public health cam­ “surveillance testing,” in which students, paign sets the stage for that shared effort by faculty, and staff are tested at regular communicating expectations, increasing intervals. Additionally, the University knowledge, and calling upon everyone in SURVEILLANCE SYSTEM: COVID testing at the Fischell Band Center. Top: Signs promoting safer behavior have has established quarantine guidelines for the Cornell community to do the right thing been posted throughout campus, including on Ho Plaza. returning students, depending on where during this global pandemic.” PHOTOS: DAVE TOP, BURBANK; BOTTOM, JASON KOSKI/UREL

10 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE

SO20_fth_PROOF__JBOK.indd 10 8/17/20 4:05 PM UC Davis Prof Tapped as CALS Dean An environmental scientist from the Did You Know . . . University of California, Davis, has been named the new dean of CALS. Benjamin That the University is digit­ Houlton (left), director of the John Muir izing its renowned Insect Institute of the Environment and a pro­ Collection? Established in fessor of global environmental studies at 1871, it boasts 7 million spec­ Davis, takes office on October 1. Houlton— imens representing 200,000 whose research topics include ways to species—about a quarter of stem climate change and to improve those on Earth. Staff are now carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus cycles for energy and food creating an online database production—will also hold professorial appointments in ecolo­ of the holdings, including gy and evolutionary biology and in global development. “Ben’s high-resolution images. leadership, scholarship, and research experience meshes per­ fectly with CALS’ commitment to an interdisciplinary culture and a deeply held belief that effecting meaningful change requires a holistic, systems-based approach to problem- solving,” says Provost Michael Kotlikoff. Houlton succeeds ‘We’ve got to be agile enough Kathryn Boor ’80, who will become dean of the Graduate School to react to anything that and vice provost for graduate education upon Houlton’s arrival. might happen.’

— NHL commissioner Gary Bettman ’74, speaking to NPR about how the league is protecting players CU Financial Crunch: An Update from COVID-19 now that games have resumed In early July, President Martha Pollack and Provost Kotlikoff shared an update on the University’s finances, which have been battered by the COVID-19 pandemic. As they reported, the Ithaca and Cornell Tech campuses suffered a $45 million impact in the Give My Regards to . . . fiscal year that ended on June 30—and $210 million is projected These Cornellians in the news for 2020–21. “Among the factors contributing to this fiscal impact, the largest is a significant anticipated increase in financial aid demand, resulting from the economic dislocation of many fami­ (left), named president lies as a result of the current crisis,” they wrote. “We remain fully Irving McPhail ’70 of St. Augustine’s University, a historically committed to meeting the financial aid need of our students, even Black institution in Raleigh, North Carolina. in this challenging time. An additional, important component is , assistant professor of the extra costs that are associated with our taking steps to try to Jeffrey Palmer performing and media arts, nominated for provide the safest possible experience for our staff, faculty, and an Emmy for outstanding documentary students this coming year while a vaccine for COVID-19 is still or nonfiction series for his fil N. Scott not available.” Momaday: Words From a Bear, part of PBS’s “American Masters” series. The winners will be announced September 20. Pollack and Kotlikoff went on to describe the measures the University will take to address the shortfall; they come in Attorney Brooke Pinto ’14 (right), elected addition to actions announced in March, including salary and to represent Ward 2 on the city council of

Washington, D.C. At age twenty-eight, she’s hiring freezes, suspending capital projects, restricting travel and the district’s youngest-ever councillor. discretionary spending, shifting fundraising focus from endow­ ment to current use, and adopting voluntary salary reductions by Literary scholar Jonathan senior leadership, faculty, and staff. (Pollack has cut her own sal­ Culler (left), the Class of 1916 Professor of English ary by 20 percent for a year.) “These actions enabled us to balance and Comparative Literature the FY20 budget, and are projected also to produce approximate­ and a member of the ly $110 million toward the budget deficit for FY21,” they wrote, Cornell faculty since 1977, elected to membership in “leaving a gap of approximately $100 million.” The new measures the British Academy. include a retirement incentive program; an increased endow­ ment payout; a shift in philanthropy efforts toward fundraising Ray Jayawardhana (right), dean of Arts and Sciences and professor of astronomy, awarded for current needs; temporary reductions in retirement contribu­ the Carl Sagan Medal by the American tions (for endowed units) and salaries (for statutory units); and Astronomical Society for excellence in public voluntary reduced hours for faculty and staff. communication in planetary science. PHOTOS: HOULTON, KARIN HIGGINS/UC DAVIS; INSECTS, JUSTIN JAMES MUIR; MCPHAILAND PINTO, PROVIDED; CULLER, ROBERT BARKER/UREL; JAYAWARDHANA, CHRIS KITCHEN

SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2020 11

SO20_fth_PROOF__JBOK.indd 11 8/17/20 4:05 PM CAMPUS NEWS

Center Releases Polls on Black America Foundation Honors Late ER Physician In honor of the Black Lives Matter movement, Cornell’s Roper A nonprofit has been established in Center for Public Opinion Research has made publicly available memory of a Cornellian physician more than eighty years of surveys of Black Americans and U.S. who died by suicide in the midst of the attitudes about African Americans. The collection, entitled “Say COVID pandemic in . Their Names. Hear Their Voices,” is presented with context about Lorna Breen ’92 (left), whose story was race in polling over the years. Found at ropercenter.cornell.edu, covered widely in the national media it comprises such topics as views in the mid-1940s about African following her death, was the ER direc­ Americans moving into white neighborhoods and recent polls tor of NewYork-Presbyterian’s Allen about police violence in the wake of the killing of George Floyd. Hospital in Upper . Having coped with overwhelming While the Roper Center’s data is generally available only to mem­ numbers of sick patients—and recovered from COVID herself— bers, anyone can request access to the surveys from the new Breen suffered a mental health crisis; she sought psychiatric collection via e-mail. Says government professor Peter Enns, the treatment, but, tragically, took her own life. Friends and family center’s executive director: “This project will help ensure that have since established the Dr. Lorna Breen Heroes Foundation, today’s scholars and future generations remember these voices.” with the aim of providing mental health support to medical work­ ers. “Like Lorna, physicians and healthcare providers suffer from a critically high degree of burnout and stress,” the foundation says ‘I’m hoping that, now more than on its website. “Currently, more than one physician in the United ever, people will be on board to States dies by suicide every day.” In addition to being an under­ grad alumna, Breen was enrolled in Cornell’s executive MBA-MS see that change needs to happen.’ program in healthcare leadership as a member of its Class of 2021.

— Michelle Duguid, PhD ’08, the Johnson School’s new associate dean for diversity, inclusion, and belonging Racial Equity Efforts Continue In a follow-up to her pledge to make the University more just and equitable in response to the nation’s racial reckoning spurred by the Black Lives Matter movement, in mid-July President Pollack + offered an update on the changes planned for campus. They R D include a variety of academic initiatives, such as the implemen­ tation of a for-credit requirement on racism, bias, and equity for all A grant of about $7.2 million from the Department of Energy will fund exploratory research—in the form of a two-mile-deep students; development of new programs focusing on the history of borehole—to help verify the feasibility of Cornell’s planned race, racism, and colonialism in the U.S.; and a future institution- geothermal energy system for campus, dubbed Earth Source Heat. wide, themed semester with readings and discussions on racism. In addition to a previously announced pledge to strengthen Biomedical engineering professor James Antaki is continuing work the public safety board that advises the Police on a device (right) to treat infants Department (CUPD), Pollack outlined other changes such as the with congenital heart failure—an creation of a new community response team. “This team will alternative to transplant that he first developed nearly two decades ago, support our residential life staff and become the first responders but was stalled by the company that to reports of noncriminal offenses and nonviolent incidents that owned the intellectual property— occur in our residential communities,” she said. “Similarly, this thanks to a $4.7 million grant from team will monitor campus events, both formal and informal, to the Department of Defense. promote safety and well-being, and to monitor the application of In an online experiment using 3D simulation, Cornell researchers University policy, allowing CUPD to focus on unlawful activity.” have determined that New York City residents are four times more Pollack also expressed a commitment to recruiting and likely to choose a store where shoppers respect six feet of social distancing as opposed to one where distancing is not observed. retaining diverse staff and reinforcing the importance of an equitable work environment, detailing several initiatives includ­ After a half-century of debate, research ing new professional development programs with a focus on by the Lab of Ornithology has decided it: while the Bullock’s oriole and the Baltimore staff of color, a required online course for staff on equity and cul­ oriole (left) mix freely where their ranges tural competency, and the establishment of Juneteenth—June 19, meet and produce apparently healthy hybrid which celebrates the end of slavery—as a permanent University offspring, they will continue to be considered holiday. “The commitment to real change is the responsibili­ two different species, not a single one. ty of all of us, particularly those of us in majority communities,” Analyzing the logistics and use of ankle monitors, information Pollack said. “It is our responsibility to read, reflect, learn, lis­ science PhD student Lauren Kilgour finds that unlike most ten, and then change the system that has disadvantaged our other types of technology, the bulky devices haven’t changed meaningfully in the past three decades—indicating that the stigma Black, Indigenous, and other colleagues, students, and friends of they carry may be part of their intended purpose. color for centuries.” PHOTOS: DEVICE AND BREEN, PROVIDED; ORIOLE, BRAD IMHOFF/MACAULAY LIBRARY

12 CORNELL ALUMNI MAGAZINE

SO20_fth_PROOF__JBOK.indd 12 8/17/20 4:05 PM LET’S ZOOM: Cornellians can now conduct their video meetings on the Hill—virtually, at least. Alumni Affairs has posted a variety of Zoom backgrounds of campus, including the Arts Quad, the A.D. White Library, the Johnson Museum, and the McGraw Hall steps with a view of the Clock Tower. They’re available for free download at alumni.cornell.edu. (To find them, click “Alumni life” and then “Downloads.”) Also available on the same page are mobile phone backgrounds, GIFs depicting the many moods of Touchdown the Bear, and family activities like puzzles and Big Red-themed stencils for carving your Halloween pumpkins. PHOTOS (CLOCKWISE FROM TOP): ROBERT BARKER; JASON KOSKI; LINDSAY FRANCE; BARKER; KOSKI / ALL UREL

SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2020 13

SO20_fth_PROOF__JBOK.indd 13 8/17/20 4:06 PM