University leaders, faculty and staff gathered Sept. 15 in Martha Van Rensselaer Hall to celebrate the launch of the 鈥 鈥渁n important moment here at Cornell,鈥 said President Martha E. Pollack.
The school鈥檚 opening is the culmination of a four-year faculty review focused on elevating excellence in the social sciences, which Provost Michael I. Kotlikoff said was preceded by five decades of discussions about a policy school鈥檚 potential.
Now a reality, Pollack said the Cornell Brooks School fits squarely within Ezra Cornell鈥檚 founding vision for a university that would create and share knowledge for a public purpose.
鈥淭he idea, right from the very beginning, was that at our heart we were going to be a university that generated knowledge that would go out from here and make the world a better place,鈥 Pollack said. 鈥淥f course, one of the ways that knowledge can be used to shape a better world 鈥 one of the most important ways 鈥 is through informed policy.鈥
The Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy advances the university鈥檚 mission, Pollack said, by creating a home for policy-oriented faculty to study and teach, and for students to learn, about effective, thoughtful policymaking, analysis and management.
Pollack and Kotlikoff joined the school鈥檚 inaugural dean, , in thanking the many faculty members who participated in and led committees that resulted in creation and implementation of the school . They thanked Jeb E. Brooks, MBA 鈥70, and his wife, Cherie Wendelken, together with the Brooks Family Foundation, for their naming and endowing the school.
鈥淣ow we move to the process of building the school, of moving it into its construction phase,鈥 Kotlikoff said. 鈥淚 have no doubt that we have secured the critical leadership that is a necessary condition for the success of the school.鈥
On her first day as a member of Cornell鈥檚 faculty, which she joined after chairing the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Barry said it was a significant day for both the university and the field of public policy.
One need only scan recent headlines, she said, to appreciate the scope and complexity of global policy challenges and the urgency of the school鈥檚 work helping to develop solutions.
The Cornell Brooks School鈥檚 establishment, she said, 鈥渃reates a foundation for more directly tackling the critical problems we face, as a country and globally, in a manner that is both grounded in science and solution-oriented, with a mandate to actively improve people鈥檚 lives and to reduce suffering in the world.鈥
To that end, the school plans to leverage and develop strengths in environmental and sustainability policy; health policy; human security; inequality and social policy; the politics and economics of development; data science and technology policy; and race, racism and public policy.
Attendees at the opening reception included the Cornell Brooks School鈥檚 initial faculty, including those who had been members of the Department of Policy Analysis in the College of Human Ecology (CHE) and policy-oriented faculty from the Department of Government in the 麻豆视频 and 麻豆视频, and other departments.
The school鈥檚 inaugural students include undergraduates majoring in policy analysis and management and health care policy (retaining their CHE affiliation if admitted there), and graduate students in the and .
The school is now also home to the and the and programs. Barry plans to forge strong partnerships with Cornell Tech and Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, as well as in Albany, New York, and Washington, D.C.
The school plans to develop a new undergraduate major in public policy and a new master鈥檚 in public policy degree that would be the first of its kind in New York state.
鈥淐reating a new school is complex and we really want to get it right,鈥 Barry said. 鈥(I will) work with you so we can structure the school in a manner that will be strong and will be enduring.鈥
Barry made reference to the personal significance to her of celebrating the school鈥檚 launch during the period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur 鈥 in the Jewish tradition, the days of awe focused on new beginnings and building a better world.
鈥淪o, too, here,鈥 she said. 鈥淚鈥檇 like to challenge us all to think about how through this opportunity that we鈥檝e been given to connect with the Brooks School, we can work together in new and different ways to make our world safer, healthier and more prosperous for everyone.鈥
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