Profiles of 2004 Graduating Students

Senior Damen Gilland majored in government and managed a business

By Franklin Crawford

Damen Gilland split his time growing up between Seattle and a cattle ranch in Shields, N.D. -- population 15. "When your nearest neighbor is 10 miles away, you learn a lot about self-reliance," he said. "Dad always told me, 'Be a jack of all trades, and don't be afraid to use a little elbow grease." Gilland, a senior government major, took that message to heart.

Gilland

His mom is a naturopath -- or, as Gilland puts it, "a hippie doctor." When Gilland caught a bad cold in middle school, she decocted a pungent home-grown remedy on the stove. Watching her toils reminded Gilland of, he said, "that scene in Macbeth. You know, 'Round about the caldron go; In the poison'd entrails throw ...'" Panacea or aversion therapy, the strange brew served its purpose. "I made it a point not to get sick again," he said.

Gilland attended boarding school at Northfield Mount Hermon in Massachusetts, where he did well. He concedes he was cocky in his college application process; he applied to just three schools -- two elites and a safety. As a result, he did his freshman year at a small college in Portland, Ore.

Computer savvy, he took a year off before transferring to Cornell and joined an Internet start-up in Seattle. The dot-com grew from six employees to about 150; by the time the bubble burst, he had learned a lot about entrepreneurship -- knowledge that came in handy later on.

Gregarious, if laconic, Gilland worked hard and played hard at Cornell. He was social chairman of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity and served as activities coordinator in Donlon Hall. An injury knocked him off Cornell's Ultimate Frisbee Team.

At the top of the list of professors whom he admires, he said, is Isaac Kramnick, vice provost and professor of government. "Never heard a more ardent lecturer," Gilland said. "I was lucky to get him as my adviser."

During the summer of his sophomore year, he and a buddy started a technical consulting firm in New Orleans. The company quickly grew to a staff of 23 employees, which Gilland managed from Ithaca.

"My junior year was hectic and a bit surreal," he said. "I'd get phone calls on my cell from [clients in] Louisiana, and nobody had a clue I was in Ithaca. They'd say, 'Boy it sure is a hot one today,' and I'd be staring at a minus-20 wind chill and saying, 'Yeah ... Sure is.'"