New faculty members hear sage words during a special orientation

By Jacquie Powers

Be yourself, make choices that fit you, and by all means, get a life, new faculty members were told at an orientation program last week.

While the senior faculty and administrators offering that advice conceded that it might not be easy to follow, they emphasized that the many intellectual and social rewards of being a member of the Cornell faculty, and a member of the Cornell community, are well worth the effort.

The advice was offered as part of a new orientation program for new faculty, designed to help ease the transition to Cornell. It was organized by Francille Firebaugh, vice provost for land grant affairs and special assistant to the president. Some 20 new faculty members attended the program, held Oct. 30 in the new North Campus Community Commons.

Hector Abruna, professor of chemistry and chemical biology, speaks to new faculty members during the Oct. 30 orientation in the Community Commons. Charles Harrington/University Photography

Hector Abruna, professor of chemistry and chemical biology and a native of Puerto Rico, said he's spent 18 winters at Cornell and still feels like he's "died and gone to heaven," despite the winter cold. Speaking as a member of the panel on "Get a Life and Get Tenure," he said every fall he has to explain to his family back in Puerto Rico why he remains in the frozen north. He tells them, "You really have to experience students and faculty of the quality we have here to understand. ... They entertain you on the one hand and keep you on your toes on the other."

Glenn Altschuler, dean of continuing education and summer sessions and professor of American Studies, led off the session with an overview of Cornell's history, values and mission. He told the new faculty that at Cornell, as at other universities in the late 19th century, research was subordinate to teaching and that the mission "was to provide education to undergraduates almost exclusively. Cornell is one of the few universities that have retained that focus on undergraduate life, and that is most commendable. And I hope each one of you, like the president and the provost, will continue that commitment to undergraduate education."

Provost Biddy Martin said Cornell is an Ivy League university with a land grant mission, which makes it a unique institution, where the Ivy League standard of academic excellence is combined with greater casualness and democratic flavor. She explained that as provost, her two main areas of focus are academic quality and the intellectual environment of the university.

In outlining the university's academic priorities and strengths, she said Cornell currently finds itself "in a planning environment in which the revolutions in the biological and life sciences are leading the charge." In addition, she said, the university has selected four strategic enabling areas for priority focus and investment: genomics, computing and information sciences, materials science, and nanostructure science.

She added that at the same time, Cornell has renewed its commitment to being strong in its core liberal arts disciplines.

Isaac Kramnick, vice provost for undergraduate education and professor of government, concluded the agenda with comments on the "Importance of Teaching at Cornell." He noted that E.B. White, Class of 1921, "one of Cornell's most distinguished graduates and among the great figures in 20th century American letters ... never had a sense of what was special about himself until he encountered the professor who would influence him profoundly for the rest of his life. The professor was George Lincoln Burr, a medieval historian who passionately brought history alive for generations of Cornellians."

Kramnick said that many of today's critics of American universities argue that the era of the legendary professor is dead and that in fact professors are lazy, pampered and overpaid. Kramnick said he disagrees. He said that while during the 1980s and early 1990s its faculty reached outward and made Cornell a world presence, "many of Cornell's distinguished faculty are turning their attention homeward -- returning their energy and excellence to the Ithaca campus. ... Distinguished faculty are now becoming more involved in the life of the Ithaca campus."

He pointed to enthusiastic faculty involvement in the North and West Campus residential initiatives and the Guns, Germs and Steel book project as evidence of this trend.

In fact, Kramnick said he's quite optimistic that "legendary faculty are alive and well at Cornell," and are ready to introduce students, as White said, "'to a part of themselves waiting to be discovered.'"

He concluded by urging the new faculty to do just that. "Future Cornell students will write of some of you as E.B. White ... wrote of George Lincoln Burr. Good luck."