Fall break may already have passed, but Sheila Haddad spends a portion of each workday on tasks related to a major conference that ended more than two months ago.
"These grade reports don't indicate which courses people took," said Haddad, administrative manager in the Department of Linguistics, looking over documents from the Registrar's office that summarized the marks of over 500 participants in the 1997 Linguistic Society of America (LSA) Linguistic Institute, held on campus June 23 through Aug. 1. Each of the 88 courses offered by the institute had been identified by a two-digit number following the decimal point in "491," but the only course number that appeared on the reports was "491." Such are the inevitable glitches which accompany an event of that magnitude.
There are other signs around the department attesting to the institute's recent presence, such as the leftover course packets piled up in the mailroom and the boxes of miscellaneous items occupying a good amount of floor space in the office of Abigail Cohn, associate professor of linguistics and associate director of the institute. Planning for Cornell's first hosting of the biannual conference began in 1992.
In addition to the bewildering array of classes offered in each branch of the linguistics and languages family, the program was supplemented by concurrent workshops in African, Germanic, East Asian and Native American linguistics as well as a weekly lecture series open to the public. Haddad said that participant evaluations have been favorable.
Large events like the Linguistic Institute that last several weeks have an impact on the local economy, noted Beverly McGowan, a coordinator of the institute who shares Cohn's office. When she was in a downtown store this summer, a shopkeeper happened to ask her if she was aware that "a lot of linguists were in town." "Of course!" she exclaimed. The Downtown Ithaca Business Improvement District had distributed special flyers welcoming the conference participants.
"The private sector is starting to realize that it's worthwhile to put some money into trying to increase tourism," said Bridget DeBelle, director of the Tompkins County Convention and Visitors Bureau. "There is definitely a return on the investment."
Over 12,000 people passed through the doors of the visitors center between the beginning of May and the end of August, said DeBelle. Based on recently compiled surveys, visitors were attracted to the area by its shopping opportunities, parks, wineries, museums, summer festivals and educational institutions, and 98 percent said that Tompkins County was their "main destination."
"From a conference of a dozen people to hundreds, even thousands, of participants, the impact can be felt throughout the community, whether it's at gas stations or the airport, in shops on the Commons or in Collegetown, or restaurants and other visitor attractions in the region," said David I. Stewart, Cornell's director of community relations. "It might be a small impact one week and huge the next, but the cumulative effect across a year's time is tremendously healthy for the community."
This past summer at least 6,000 people attended conferences and programs at Cornell that dealt with everything from golfing and geometry teaching to more esoteric topics such as diseases of birds and the biochemistry of vertebrates. Many others came to Ithaca to take advantage of the university's summer session and academic programs for high school students, Cornell's Adult University, and enrichment workshops for industry professionals sponsored by various Cornell units, including the schools of Hotel Administration and Industrial and Labor Relations.
Summer events at Cornell serve a wide constituency, and there can be a great diversity even in one conference group united by a common interest, such as the Linguistic Institute. Participants in another similarly successful program, the School of Criticism and Theory (SCT), came from 17 nations to study current trends in literary thought, June 16 to July 25.
Cornell enticed the prestigious summer program for faculty and advanced graduate students in literature and related fields away from Dartmouth College, where it had been held the last 11 years. Dominick LaCapra, the Bryce and Edith Bowmar Professor in Humanistic Studies and associate director of the school, was largely responsible for the move. Having sensed some disinclination at Dartmouth to accommodate the SCT again, LaCapra worked with university staff to offer an alternative arrangement, which the school's board accepted. He anticipates that the school will remain at Cornell for many summers to come.
"Cornell is perfectly suited to the program," LaCapra said, as he offered a visitor a copy of the already printed general brochure describing the 1998 session from a stack on his desk. LaCapra cited agreeable summer weather and a tranquil setting as most important in determining where the SCT will be held. "There aren't many schools which fit that description," he said.
The significant number of Cornell graduate students working in literary fields benefits from the SCT's presence. And in addition to the courses taught by top literary scholars, each week the school offers three lectures and colloquia open to the public. "It gives more people a reason to stay in Ithaca during the summer and helps to bring Cornell to the attention of a wider public," LaCapra said.
For university personnel who may be arranging upcoming conferences, Stewart offered some advice: "Coordination is the key and we urge campus offices to plan ahead as much as possible and to work closely with the university's Events Management Planning Team and the Conference Services unit, which in turn work closely with local agencies such as the county's convention center and visitors bureau. That way, major scheduling conflicts can be avoided and even better arrangements can be made for conferees."