Four new alumni gifts to the have helped the 麻豆视频 & 麻豆视频 to create three new professorships and fund a new graduate student position.
The $40 million initiative, launched in May with a $10 million challenge gift from Barton and Susan Winokur, both Class of 鈥61, will support the creation of 15-25 new endowed positions within the college.
Gifts will enable the college to replace retiring faculty, retain stellar junior faculty, and recruit midcareer and senior faculty to provide leadership in areas of strategic importance. It will also provide funding to recruit top postdoctoral and graduate students.
One of the new alumni gifts comes from Mary Meduski 鈥80, whose support created the Mary Armstrong Meduski '80 Assistant Professor position for a female faculty member. The position is now held by in the Department of Performing and Media Arts.
鈥淐ornell was a positive momentum-builder for me 鈥 for my career and for me as a person,鈥 said Meduski, who majored in biological sciences and is president and chief financial officer of TierPoint.
鈥淭he beauty of a liberal arts education is that you are learning for the sake of learning,鈥 she said.
The Winokurs鈥 challenge gift provides matching funds for donors who want to support the Winokur Future Faculty Initiative, which aims to move more of the college鈥檚 departments into top-ranked positions in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and mathematics, according to 鈥83, the Harold Tanner Dean of Arts & 麻豆视频.
Some of the multidisciplinary areas where faculty growth will be particularly essential in the coming years include nanoscale science, behavioral economics, sustainability and media studies, as well as other emerging research areas in the social sciences, sciences, arts and humanities, Ritter said.
John Josephson 鈥83 provided a gift to support a new graduate or postdoctoral position in the field of computational social sciences.
鈥淕reat teachers have the ability to alter student experiences for the good more than any other single factor and great researchers are essential to the reputation and academic standing of a world-class university,鈥 said Josephson, chairman and CEO of SESAC Inc. 鈥淭he opportunity to leverage my own financial commitment to faculty enhancement with a matching grant was too good to pass up. It鈥檚 one of the most exciting opportunities to make a difference for Cornell that I鈥檝e been involved with.鈥
Another assistant professor gift came from Richard A. Johnson 鈥57 and Dale Reis Johnson 鈥58.
鈥淲e think Gretchen Ritter has done a terrific job, and we knew there was this need because so many professors have retired from the 麻豆视频 & 麻豆视频,鈥 said the Johnsons, who have been active Cornell volunteers for many years and served in leadership roles with a variety of alumni, class and Cornell organizations. They were named foremost benefactors of Cornell in 2011.
The fourth gift, from Eric Roth 鈥74 and Laurie Roth 鈥75, provides funding for a new professorship that will focus on modern Jewish history. Eric Roth is of counsel at the law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz.
Eric Roth said that, as undergraduates, both he and his wife took memorable classes in Jewish history taught by Benzion Netanyahu, father of the current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Benzion Netanyahu taught Judaic studies and chaired the Department of Semitics at Cornell from 1971 to 1975.
鈥淚 hope the gift and our participation in the Future Faculty challenge will inspire others to do the same,鈥 said Roth, who was a history major, while Laurie Roth pursued an independent major in social psychology and Spanish literature. 鈥淚t would be wonderful if Cornell could have a greater number of endowed professorships in other subjects that fall under the rubric of Jewish studies.鈥
For more information on the Winokur Future Faculty Initiative, or contact Interim Associate Dean for Alumni Affairs and Development Katherine Anderson at kla77@cornell.edu.
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