Composition of university's Presidential Search Committee is established

The composition of the Presidential Search Committee to nominate a successor to Cornell President Hunter Rawlings was announced March 30 by Harold Tanner, chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees; Peter C. Meinig, chair-elect; and Edwin H. Morgens, vice chair. Rawlings announced March 15 he would step down from the presidency on June 30, 2003.

Morgens will chair the search committee, which will include representatives from several Cornell constituencies, including trustees, faculty, undergraduate students, graduate students, employees, the Weill Cornell Medical College and Graduate School of Medical Sciences and alumni.

Trustee members of the committee are Morgens, chair; Leslie C. Barkemeyer, student-elected trustee; J. Thomas Clark; Diana M. Daniels; Samuel C. Fleming; Barbara B. Friedman; William E. Fry, faculty-elected trustee; Myra M. Hart; Peter C. Meinig; Rebecca Q. Morgan; Andrew M. Paul; Harold Tanner; Jan Rock Zubrow, alumni-elected trustee; and an employee-elected trustee who will be added once election results are confirmed by mid-April.

Non-trustee members are Patrick M. Carr, graduate student; Harold G. Craighead, faculty; Sandra E. Greene, faculty; Ralph Nachman, M.D., Medical College faculty; and Inge T. Reichenbach, university administration.

In addition to the members of the committee, Morgens announced the appointment of two advisers to the committee and its executive secretary.

Committee advisers are Sanford I. Weill, trustee emeritus and chair of the Weill Cornell Medical College Board of Overseers, and Stephen H. Weiss, trustee and board chair emeritus. Barbara L. Krause, assistant secretary of the corporation and associate university counsel, will serve as executive secretary to the search committee.

Morgens stated that the committee will seek further advice from all Cornell constituencies and from leaders throughout the nation on the characteristics that should be sought in a new Cornell president who can best lead the university in pursuit of its strategic initiatives and future goals. He asked that individuals who wish to communicate with the search committee direct their letters and inquiries to the committee's executive secretary