Kathryn Tunison, 47, outside Martha Van Rensselaer Hall. The human service studies major graduated from the College of Human Ecology last month with the highest grade-point average in the college. Charles Harrington/University Photography
Kathryn Tunison recalls a night not long ago when she was sitting at her kitchen table doing chemistry homework and crying with frustration. She had recently been laid off from an 18-year job as an assistant vice president of Citizen's Saving Bank and had returned to school full time. "Then my husband came in and told me, 'There's no crying in chemistry,'" she says. "He's helped put things in perspective."
Though Tunison, 47 and a grandmother of three, has taken a nontraditional path to Cornell, she has had clear goals. Going to college had been her longtime dream, deferred by the career she found increasingly difficult to leave. "It was hard to walk away from that paycheck," she says. Then, when Citizens Savings Bank was bought out by a larger bank, she knew the time had come. She finished the two-year program at Tompkins Cortland Community College in one-and-a-half years and then transferred to Cornell for the fall 1995 semester.
Last month she graduated from the College of Human Ecology, majoring in human service studies, and spoke at the college's commencement ceremony at Newman Arena. Her final GPA is well over 4.0, and the highest in the college; it is believed to be the first time a mature student has earned the top GPA in the college. "I had so many A-pluses that when I got an A my GPA dropped!" she says. Most recently, Tunison has been accepted into the MSW program at Syracuse University, where she has already begun her classes.
Tunison credits her motivation to a number of sources. "I worked like hell," she says of the past four years. "Work was easy compared to this!"
She has also learned from Cornell's more traditional students. "They are some of the smartest kids around," she says, "and they helped me learn to work on projects with other people."
Her field placement with the Tompkins County Head Start program gave her a "wonderful experience of diversity," she says. She and her granddaughter even had homework sessions and checked each other's assignments.
But her greatest source of motivation, Tunison says, has been her father, who died a month before she returned to school. A longtime Ithaca businessman, he came out of retirement to work as a custodian at Cornell. Tunison attended Cornell under the Cornell Children's Tuition Scholarship Plan. "Even in his absence he paid for my education," she says. And in her commencement speech, she wrote, "My Dad has been perched upon my shoulder...cheering me on; and I know he is here with me today enjoying this wonderful moment in the sun."
Tunison feels that her nontraditional background gave her a unique experience at Cornell. "It was easy for me to talk to professors," she says, "and I got automatic respect. But sometimes I was lonely. I'd go from class to class and wouldn't talk to anyone all day. And then, when classes were done, I had to go home and take care of my family." Also, as a lifelong resident of the Ithaca area, Tunison says she has gained "a whole new respect for Cornell and its students."
When asked about future plans, Tunison says she thinks it will be nice to return to the working world, where she would like to find a position with a family mental health agency. Her field placement next year will be with either Schuyler or Cortland County mental health services, and Tunison looks forward to the experience. Still, she hasn't ruled out continuing her education beyond the master's level. "After what I've gone through," she says, "I wouldn't say there's anything that's impossible."