Five years ago Hunter Rawlings became the 10th president of Cornell University. In July, Biddy Martin became Cornell's new provost. Recently the Cornell Chronicle sat down with President Rawlings and Provost Martin and asked them to discuss what has been accomplished over the past five years and to outline their plans and priorities for the future. This is the first part of that two-part interview.

President Rawlings, you've just completed your fifth year as president of Cornell. What do you feel have been your major accomplishments during this period? What have been your major frustrations or shortcomings?

I'd say one of the most important things we've done, with strong faculty guidance, is to set some priorities for Cornell -- first of all in the research arena. Faculty committees, first in the natural sciences, identified a series of high priorities and those included what the committees called "enabling disciplines." The three in the sciences chosen initially were advanced materials science, genomics and computing and information sciences.

When Cornell faculty members made those three choices, they were not on everybody's lips. Today, three years later, they are on everybody's agenda. The White House has recognized that those are crucial areas, the funding agencies have recognized that, and other universities have clearly decided to go in these directions. I'm very pleased that Cornell identified these three enabling areas for special investment and emphasis. And as Provost Martin can tell you in some detail, we've been making wonderful faculty appointments in all three areas.

In the social sciences, we've now had a task force report on where we should be focusing. That task force reported this past spring. We then had two very good hearings in which faculty members came and talked further about the report. I was able to attend the second one and to announce a couple of areas we're going to invest in initially. One is poverty and development, another is life course studies. I'm also pleased we are beginning a faculty seminar this year on the social sciences and their relationships to other disciplines, under the leadership of Professor Peter Katzenstein. We are about to do some considered thinking in the humanities and the arts at the same time.

Director Lenore Coral, left, and assistant director Betsy Gamble help patrons (including Steven Stucky, right, professor of music and noted composer) in the expanded Sidney Cox Library of Music and Dance in the new addition to Lincoln Hall. Frank DiMeo/University Photography

Meanwhile, I must say, I'm very pleased that we've been able to renew facilities for the arts on campus. I think about Lincoln Hall, which is nearing completion; I think about Tjaden Hall, which is completed; I think about the funding recently announced to replace Rand Hall, for architecture; and of course we were delighted last spring to learn that the state of New York will undertake a major renovation of Bailey Auditorium, with financial assistance from our own alumni and friends.

A second arena of accomplishment clearly is undergraduate life. I've put a lot of emphasis in my five years on developing student life outside the classroom as well as inside, by trying to enhance the intellectual atmosphere for our students. Our programs for developing the North and West campuses are going very well. In fact, we're now seeing buildings rise on North Campus, which is being transformed as a result. This will enable us to have a home for the freshman class, one that gives the class a sense of cohesion and identity, as well as closer contact with our faculty.

A third thing I would mention is the tremendous progress we're seeing in student admissions, especially in the last two years. We've had great increases in the number of applicants, a big jump in the yield rate, and a stronger academic profile for the class as a whole. The yield rate is now above 50 percent, which is a big step for Cornell, one that demonstrates our greater selectivity. At the same time we've increased diversity, which is one of our top priorities in recruiting.

We have a wonderful new head of admissions, Doris Davis. I think that's a very important appointment for us. She had a terrific record at Barnard overseeing admissions, and she's a great addition to Cornell.

A new residence hall rises up next to Mary Donlon Hall on North Campus as part of the North Campus Residential Initiative. Students will move into the new residence halls in the fall of 2001. Frank DiMeo/University Photography

We've also seen major increases in graduate admissions the last two years. Dean Walter Cohen has developed a plan to increase graduate admissions, we have funded it and we've seen strong results.

The past five years have produced a quantum leap for our Weill Medical College in New York City. Joan and Sandy Weill's gift has given us a huge boost in research funding, the campaign for the strategic plan is successfully completed, the college has already appointed 11 of the 30 new research faculty and the new laboratories are up and running in the Whitney Tower.

I'll mention just two other things. Provost Martin and I next week will announce [the announcement was made July 27] a major new program to increase faculty salaries, to make them competitive with the best universities in the country. We've set a goal, we've set a timetable for reaching the goal, and we have the plan itself, the strategy for reaching the goal. We both are confident that the goal is achievable, for both statutory faculty and endowed faculty.

And in fact, President Rawlings, the impact reaches beyond faculty salaries, does it not? Isn't it a major step toward maintaining the quality of this university?

Exactly. We designed this plan with the help of two faculty committees. One is the Financial Policies Committee of the Faculty Senate and the other is an ad hoc committee of faculty members in the College of Arts and Sciences. Both are highly supportive of the plan.

The other point I want to make is that private fund-raising over these five years has been nothing short of extraordinary. In the year that ended in June of 1999, Cornell was first in the nation in fund-raising from individuals and from alumni. That's not top five, top 10, that's number one. We were second in the nation overall in fund-raising for total dollars raised. And our alumni and friends continue to be remarkably generous. We will announce very soon that during this past year, we have reached a new record for new gifts and commitments, totaling over $500 million. We are at an extraordinary level of alumni giving and we are very, very grateful.

So that's a long list.

What about frustrations, President Rawlings?

I'd say the primary frustration has been in our work with the State University of New York (SUNY). Cornell's relationship with the state is very strong. We had an important visit from Gov. Pataki this past fall that turned out to be extremely helpful in making sure the governor was aware of the issues in our statutory colleges, in particular, and he was quite responsive, both programmatically and financially. And our legislative program is really very strong. We have great support from the members of the Senate and the Assembly. Recently Majority Leader Bruno was here from the Senate for a half-day on campus and that also has been very beneficial to us.

However, the relationship with SUNY has really been a difficult one. We have tried very hard to build that relationship into something positive, but I must say it's a frustrating process. SUNY continues to reduce Cornell's share of the state operating budget -- it feels as though every time we take a step forward we take two steps back. So I distinguish here between the relationship with the state and the relationship with SUNY. I think we're making wonderful progress with the former, but we're losing ground with the latter.

President Rawlings, would you say that in terms of the state, one of the recent gains, or signs that things are improving, would be the $10.1 million state funding for renovations to Bailey Hall?

That's a terrific example. And frankly, we owe a lot of that to the governor himself. He intervened. And again that's a case where I'm afraid if we had left the matter up to the process we normally follow, we would not have the funding.

And do you see any possibility for improvements in relations with SUNY through the new chancellor, Robert King?

I do. I think Chancellor King brings a new expertise to the position. Unfortunately he just had bypass surgery, but I think he's recovering well now. Bob King understands the state government, and in particular the budget process, very well, and he has a vision for the role higher education should play in the state's strategy for the future. So we have some hopes there, and I've had three very good meetings with him. But I think we have a long way to go.

President Hunter Rawlings makes a point during a joint interview with Provost Biddy Martin in July. Charles Harrington/University Photography

President Rawlings, what do you now see as your long-term goals for Cornell? Have these changed from those that you articulated in your Inaugural Address?

I would say the long-term goals are still basically the same. The primary one is what I call "composing Cornell." That is, getting the remarkably diverse parts of Cornell organized in a way to work effectively. We are a very decentralized university and that's good, in general, but it means at times that we duplicate our efforts, we duplicate resources and we don't have ideal collaboration among the parts. I think it's essential that we optimize the use of the resources we have.

For an example, let's look at the new collaborations in genomics. Steve Tanksley's work with Ron Elber -- that's a specialist in plant genetics working with a computer scientist -- is a splendid case of what can happen at Cornell, in two disciplines that used to be totally separate. Now we have a plant biologist working with a computer scientist, and together they've made a breakthrough that you've been reading about and you're going to continue to read about because it's a very fundamental discovery. I'd like to see more of that as these disciplines more and more break down the barriers among themselves and start to see the opportunities.

Another good example in the computing realm is the new collaboration between linguistics and computing, where we have made a very important new appointment in Mats Rooth, a full professor from the University of Stuttgart. Such an appointment just wouldn't have happened a few years ago. I know that Provost Martin is encouraging the deans of the different colleges to work closely together in order for them to take advantage of our distinctive strengths. So "composing Cornell" still remains the overall goal.

It's widely assumed on campus that the most important appointment made by the president is the position of university provost. Provost Martin, what are your top priorities as you begin this new assignment?

I named a set of priorities when I was first appointed and they echo the president's priorities in many respects -- faculty salaries, enhanced quality in research and teaching, interdisciplinary collaboration, integration across colleges, increased diversity, students' well-being, support for the strategic initiatives endorsed by the faculty and administration and for the traditional core of liberal arts education. It's critically important for the provost to be focused on sustaining and enhancing academic quality, by which I mean both the research at the institution and our commitment to the best possible educational programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

We need continually to assess and improve the means by which we recruit, appoint, promote and tenure faculty. As administrators we must do whatever we can to provide the appropriate incentives and support to faculty so they can be as productive as they are capable of being in their scholarship, teaching and outreach missions. I consider it essential to encourage and facilitate faculty members' efforts to collaborate with one another across disciplinary boundaries.

For these reasons, I am committed, as you've just heard from the president, to improving faculty salaries and to building intellectual community, strengthening community where it has lagged. The commitment to respect, curiosity about one another and appropriate levels of trust needs to be enhanced on every level -- among students, between students and faculty, among our faculty and between the administration and the faculty. I'd like to take steps to educate the faculty about the diversity of what actually occurs on this campus in areas far afield from any individual's own interests. We could create a great deal more appreciation for the research and more interaction and transparency about decision-making if the faculty were better educated about one another's work and contributions and if we were all able to understand our students' changing needs and expectations, even in an effort to influence them.

Do you have any thought about how that could be accomplished, Provost Martin? That sounds like an ambitious goal.

It is an ambitious goal. I have a number of ideas, not all of which we will be able to implement immediately, but some of which I have discussed with the steering committee of the Faculty Senate. As always, communication and an attempt to be straightforward are critical.

We have enlisted Vice President Hank Dullea's office in an effort to develop a series of news stories, in the fall, about developments at the intersections of the biological and physical sciences. There are a number of research programs at Cornell that take advantage of our strengths where the biological and physical and computing sciences converge.

I am confident that faculty and students, regardless of their own immediate interests, would find developments at Cornell terribly exciting, not only for their intrinsic value as research projects, but for their potential applications. I'd like the entire faculty and the student body, as well as our staff, frankly, to know more about the potential in the research and teaching that's going on here.

We have asked University Relations to highlight research and teaching in the humanities next semester. President Rawlings has mentioned the social science seminar. Foregrounding the humanities is also a priority at a university that prides itself on an outstanding liberal arts education.

I will ask the academic deans to set aside time at one of their faculty or chairs meetings for presentations of the kind I heard this spring as I went around to visit different colleges and departments.

There are others means I'm exploring. I've even considered the possibility of university faculty meetings/fora at which the president and I might introduce to the faculty some of the projects we find exciting. The University Faculty Committee of the Faculty Senate has expressed interest in promoting this particular objective.

President Rawlings: I might add that the provost and I are going to be in a yearlong academic seminar with 15 faculty members from a number of our colleges. It's an opportunity for us to sit down on a weekly basis with some of our strongest faculty to talk about where their disciplines are going. It's a rare thing for presidents and provosts to do, and I'm really pleased that we can take part.

At the same time, President Rawlings, in talking about "composing Cornell" you talked about bridging chasms here. One of those would be the racial divide that has occurred on this campus as it has elsewhere. And bridging North Campus and West Campus. Have you made progress in those two areas?

Yes. I really felt that we were beginning to suffer from a kind of separation by race among the students. The damage was caused by thousands of choices being exercised by students, and one doesn't like to interfere with that process, but when the process leads to a kind of general separation, I think it has unfortunate consequences.

I believe very strongly in integration, but clearly this is a sensitive, unsettled subject. I hope that by changing the campus in the way we are, we will enable students still to have a good deal of choice in their lives, but we will be sending an important institutional message that says we believe in integration, that we believe in people learning together and taking advantage of their different backgrounds. I think diversity is critically important to quality. I don't think we can be a high-quality institution without substantial diversity. But, I want us to take advantage of that diversity rather than have it simply separate us into disparate communities.

We also have the new Campus Climate Committee and the new diversity statement, "Open Doors, Open Hearts, Open Minds," which I think grew from your interest in this area, is that correct President Rawlings?

Yes, but the impetus came from several unfortunate incidents. Sometimes no matter what you're doing institutionally, if a few individuals commit thoughtless acts you create a completely different climate, instantly, within the community. We experienced some of those acts two years ago, and they caused considerable dismay and anger on the campus. We were slow to respond to those incidents, but eventually, thanks to fine work by faculty, staff and students, we were able to make real progress as a campus. Not just by finding the culprits and punishing them -- in fact, often it's impossible to find out who commits these acts -- but instead to do as much as we can to improve the climate. I'd say that the diversity statement you mentioned has been a very big help; it's on the door, right over there, and we're going to keep it right there.

In fact, I just had a visitor to this office over the weekend who read that statement and said, "Give me a copy, I want to take this back to my own institution."

Next week: The residential initiative is also part of "composing Cornell."