The state of the university 'is wonderful,' Lehman reports to Cornellians

By Roger Segelken

Delivering his first State of the University address since taking office in July, Cornell President Jeffrey S. Lehman said he is finding the university "even more wonderful than I dared to expect." Then he asked advice from students, faculty and staff members -- and from alumni and friends of the university -- on how to make it better.

From left, President Jeffrey Lehman, Ginger K. So, chair of the Cornell University Council, and Peter Meinig, chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees, meet following Friday's State of the University address. J. Reis/www.jonreis.com

The address on Friday, Oct. 17, in Statler Auditorium during the university's annual Trustee-Council Weekend, summed up observations Lehman had given during the past week in three inaugural addresses -- first at the new Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar on Oct. 12, then at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City on Oct. 15, and culminating with the Ithaca-campus inaugural address on Oct. 16.

In Doha, Qatar, Lehman told Cornellians he had articulated his vision of the "transnational university of the future" with a "perspective on the human condition that transcends nationalism" -- a university that is engaged and eager to participate "in the efforts of people everywhere to understand the world and improve the conditions of our lives."

Collaboration was the theme for Lehman's New York City address, he said, where he had celebrated the university's "unique commitment in the life sciences" which, he said, "holds the promise of exceptional contributions to human understanding and human well-being." And he described talking about how "Cornell's presence in New York City has continuously expanded and how the need for intellectual collaborations has driven that expansion."

In Ithaca in Barton Hall on Oct. 16, Lehman said he had asked Cornellians to consider the "historic boldness" demonstrated by the university's 19th century founders in transforming higher education and "the very special affection that Cornellians have always felt for our university." He had suggested, he said, that the time had come "to ask ourselves a set of fundamental questions about our goals. ... And I called on Cornellians everywhere to engage these questions with me, as we consider how and if Cornell ought to continue to evolve."

But before he began reporting, Lehman said, he did plenty of listening in hundreds of meetings with students, faculty, staff and community members over the summer and early fall months. He was awed by what he learned, the newly inaugurated president said. "I had known the faculty was outstanding," but now with the opportunity of having spoken with them and witnessed them in action, he said, "I can report that the faculty here is breathtaking," with each faculty member demonstrating an "overwhelming desire to contribute something important to his or her field" and, through their teaching, transmitting their love of knowledge to another generation.

And Cornell students are "truly wonderful," Lehman said, calling them "smart, mature, committed to the university" and, he added, "wonderfully talented," recalling "astonishing" performances during the previous night's Barton Hall extravaganza, "Ezra and Andy's Excellent BIG RED Adventure."

Of the university's staff, Lehman said, they are "just amazing, exceptionally talented and sharing an esprit that is tremendously important. ... They are part of an enterprise that has a transcendent mission to understand and contribute to our world. And so they do not treat their work as just another job." And Lehman saluted the members of his senior administrative staff, singling them out for special praise.

And finally he praised the university's "remarkable, extraordinary" alumni -- the envy of every other university president he knows, Lehman said. Speaking for himself and his wife, Kathy Okun, he said of the backing of the Cornell Board of Trustees: "We feel supported, buoyed, uplifted. You inspire us to give our all to our university." He called two special alumni -- board of trustees chair Peter Meinig and his wife, Nancy -- ideal partners in guiding the university, saying, "I treasure our friendship and our working relationship."

Cornell, the president said, "truly is more wonderful that we had dared to imagine," but it is a complex and ever-evolving organism. He drew a life-sciences analogy, likening the university to a single-celled being at the time of its founding. As the undifferentiated cell divided into clusters of cells with specialized functions, the organism learned to permeate boundaries and exchange ideas. Multiple new layers of organization were intended to facilitate the efficient flow of information and allow outsiders to engage the organism. But additional layers of complexity also can crush the organism's vital components, Lehman observed, and he asked everyone to think about "how we can work well together ... how do we make sure information flows efficiently through and across the layers" so that faculty, students and staff "are able to achieve their individual and institutional ambitions. ... I will welcome your observations," Lehman said, addressing Cornellians everywhere. "I'd like that help, that advice."

He concluded by saying there are "exceptionally talented people assembled here and working together. It is a perfect time for us to think carefully and deliberately about how the university should evolve in the years to come."

The prepared text of the State of the University address is available online at: http://www.news.cornell.edu/campus/stateofuniv1003.html.