CU panel will look at university's land-grant mission for 21st century

By Jacquie Powers

Cornell President Hunter Rawlings, in reaffirming the university's commitment to community outreach and public service, has appointed a Presidential Oversight Commission and five panels to review Cornell's land-grant mission and make recommendations for reshaping that mission for the 21st century.

The 11-person Oversight Commission, chaired by Rawlings and appointed Feb. 10, will coordinate the work of five panels of faculty, staff and trustees who will assess existing programs and chart new directions for outreach and technology transfer.

"As a land-grant university, Cornell must address pressing state and national needs," Rawlings said. "To do so will require the broad participation of the faculty in reshaping what we are currently doing and a search for funding mechanisms to pursue new initiatives. I have asked the panels to develop new solutions and approaches that update what it means for Cornell to be a land-grant university."

Rawlings said the administration, members of the Cornell Board of Trustees and many faculty are interested in seeking more-contemporary interpretations of the land-grant mission. In addition, he noted, the Middle States reaccreditation team recommended "giving voice to the ongoing discussion within Cornell about what it means to be an Ivy League, land-grant, fully engaged university."

The five panels include:

• Outreach/Extension: Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Human Ecology and Veterinary Medicine, chaired by Malden Nesheim, professor emeritus of nutritional sciences, and co-chaired by Ronald Ehrenberg, the Irving M. Ives Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations; trustee members include Peter G. Ten Eyck II and Craig Yunker.

• Outreach/Extension: Industrial and Labor Relations, chaired by David Butler, dean of the School of Hotel Administration; trustee member is Paul F. Cole.

• Engineering Outreach: Economic Development, chaired by Christopher Ober, the F.N. Bard Professor of Metallurgical Engineering, and co-chaired by Clifford Pollock, the Ilda and Charles Lee Professor of Engineering; trustee members are J. Thomas Clark and Kevin M. McGovern; member of the trustee Committee of Land Grant and Statutory Affairs is Edward Cupoli.

• K-12 Education, chaired by Patsy Brannon, the Rebecca Q. and James C. Morgan Dean of the College of Human Ecology, and co-chaired by Provost Biddy Martin; trustee member is Roy H. Park Jr.

• Technology Transfer, chaired by Ronnie Coffman, professor and chair of the Department of Plant Breeding; trustee members are John E. Alexander and Paul A. Gould.

The panels will address the issues of:

• pressing state needs;
• generating and allocating resources;
• effacing the boundaries between applied and basic research;
• reducing the barriers between departments and developing working relationships between the endowed faculty and faculty from the contract colleges;
• reaching business and industry more effectively;
• considering relevant ethical concerns; and
• involving undergraduate and graduate students.

"Strong leadership of the five panels composed of outstanding faculty, staff and trustee members bodes well for generating thoughtful and innovative ideas for outreach and extension, including K-12 education and technology transfer," said Francille Firebaugh, vice provost for land grant affairs and special assistant to the president. "It is an ambitious undertaking in a relatively short time frame for academia -- we have asked for the final reports by Oct. 15, 2003." Preliminary reports are due June 30.

The panel members, all directly associated with Cornell, will solicit input from constituencies both within and outside the university, Firebaugh said.