Class of '56 establishes library humanities fund
A $30,000 endowment from the Class of 1956 will establish a fund to boost Cornell's humanities print collection, allowing the university library to purchase additional English-language monographs and a range of materials in foreign languages. (July 3, 2008)

Center promotes acting, singing and dancing for social change
The Center for Transformative Action (formerly CRESP) at Cornell has created the Performing Arts for Social Change, an initiative to make a social impact through theater, music and dance. (June 26, 2008)

Kent Kleinman named dean of Architecture, Art and Planning
Kent Kleinman, a professor and department chair at Parsons The New School for Design, has been selected as the new Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning. He will begin his five-year term Sept. 1. (June 26, 2008)

Todd McGrain memorializes 'lost birds' with sculpture project
Cornell professor of art Todd McGrain is immortalizing the passenger pigeon and four other North American bird species driven to extinction in his 'Lost Bird Project' to be shown in Rochester this summer. (June 24, 2008)

Students fill Sibley Hall stairwell with their art
Students in Ewa Harabasz's Painting II class turned a stairwell in East Sibley Hall into a canvas for a spring semester project, inspired by graffiti and other painting techniques. (June 9, 2008)

Karen Brummund hangs public art installation on barn June 14-15
Artist and Cornell staffer Karen Brummund is inviting public participation in her latest installation, a full-scale drawing of a barn in Groton. (June 9, 2008)

Jon Wong '08 receives 2008-09 Undergraduate Artist Award
The Cornell Council for the Arts Undergraduate Artist Award is given to Cornell students for their academic and artistic achievements. (May 30, 2008)

Five named Newcombe Fellows in humanities, social sciences
Five Cornell doctoral candidates have received fellowships to support dissertations in the humanities and social sciences addressing questions of religious or ethical value. (May 27, 2008)

CU faculty to offer insights for water problems in Greece
Cornell faculty members Gail Holst-Warhaft and Tammo Steenhuis will meet with government leaders, activists and academics in Greece this summer to discuss the water-scarcity problem in the Mediterranean. (May 27, 2008)

New translation of 'Aeneid' restores original's humor, meter
Frederick Ahl, Cornell professor of classics and comparative literature, has published a new translation of the 'Aeneid' for Oxford University Press, in an effort that rivals Virgil's. (May 22, 2008)

Milles brings 'the theater of possibility' to stage and film
Beth Milles '88 believes that in theater, as in any professional life, each experience leads to the next. (May 22, 2008)

Local smithy hammers out landmark gate for Cornell garden
Artisan Durand Van Doren has spent the last six months shaping steel into daisies, daffodils, roots and rhizomes for a landmark gate in Cornell's Lua A. Minns Garden. (May 19, 2008)

New wing of the Johnson Museum takes flight toward the future
The expansion will enhance the art education of the entire community and give visitors of all ages a better understanding of other cultures, other centuries and other values, says museum director Frank Robinson. (May 15, 2008)

Gordon Sander '72 views Cornell then and now in photo exhibit
Capturing Cornell moments, from the silly to the sublime, over the past 40 years is the focus of 'The Cornell Zone: 1968-2008,' a photography exhibition by Gordon F. Sander '72, on view May 16-Sept. 15. (May 12, 2008)

Melissa Bank named visiting writer for spring 2009
Melissa Bank, MFA '98, the author of the best-seller 'The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing,' will teach seminars to undergraduates and graduate students in English and creative writing. (May 7, 2008)

Student exhibition explores boundaries of art and the body
The History of Art Majors Society has curated interactive art representing the human body for an annual exhibition at the Johnson Museum, 'Exquisite Corpus: Interacting with the Fragmented Body.' (May 6, 2008)

Architects tackle real-world setting for music center in Spain
Cornell architecture students received real-world experience this semester with a community music center project in Valencia, Spain. Students visited the site over spring break. (May 6, 2008)

Johnson Museum to celebrate groundbreaking for new wing
The museum will celebrate groundbreaking for its $20 million, 16,000-square-foot addition May 17 from 1 to 3 p.m. The free public event also recognizes the museum's 35th anniversary. (May 5, 2008)

French revolutionary terror an exaggeration, say Lafayette experts
The French public was led to believe that heads rolled willy-nilly and that blood ran in the streets of Paris in 1793-94, when, in fact, that wasn't quite the case. (April 28, 2008)

'What Do You Do With a B.A. In English?' Write, teach and more
Faculty members gave undergraduates some concrete advice on the many practical uses for an English degree at a recent panel discussion organized by the student-run English Club. (April 24, 2008)

Cornell University Press publishes art book of manuscript pages
A lavishly illustrated new book from Cornell University Press makes medieval manuscripts accessible to students and general readers. (April 22, 2008)

Andy Goldsworthy's final lecture as A.D. White Professor-at-Large
Artist Andy Goldsworthy, known for using natural materials to create striking images and unusual structures, spent his finals days as a professor-at-large creating an original piece of art for Cornell. (April 22, 2008)

Cornell MFA poets, alumni read at Poetry Month event
Three Cornell graduate student writers and a Weill Cornell M.D. read their original verse as part of the sixth annual Poem in Your Pocket Day, April 17 in New York City's Bryant Park. (April 18, 2008)

Rebillard, Smith are Mellon New Directions fellows
Professor of classics and history Eric Rebillard and Anna Marie Smith, professor of government, have received fellowships for 2008-09 to support extradisciplinary training for their research projects. (April 16, 2008)

CNN contributor Roland Martin to speak on race and ethics
Journalist and author Roland S. Martin will deliver a commentary on race, politics, and ethics in public life in his talk, 'It's Time For Us to Rebuild,' April 20 at 4 p.m. in Sage Chapel. (April 16, 2008)

Sherman Cochran wins Levenson prize for China book
Sherman Cochran, a Cornell professor of Chinese history, has been awarded the annual Joseph Levenson Prize in Chinese Studies for his 2006 book 'Chinese Medicine Men.' (April 15, 2008)

Ted Lowi honored with prestigious Madison award
Ted Lowi will receive the American Political Science Association's 2008 James Madison Award, which recognizes a career of scholarly excellence. It is one of the highest accolades of the profession. (April 10, 2008)

Junot Diaz, MFA '95, wins Pulitzer Prize for fiction
'The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao,' the unconventional debut novel by Junot Diaz, MFA '95, has won the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. (April 9, 2008)

Glee Club and Chorus recall tour of China
The Cornell Glee Club and Chorus have returned from a two-week concert tour and cultural exchange in the People's Republic of China that saw them perform in Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. (April 9, 2008)

School of Criticism and Theory will convene for 12th year at CU
Topics to be discussed at the School of Criticism and Theory, June 15 to July 24, will range from torture, disbelief, espionage, sovereignty and responsibility to modern jazz, experimental art, the lyric and bilingualism. (April 8, 2008)

Suber brings 'Spoglia' dance show home to New Orleans
New Orleans native Byron Suber, a senior lecturer in dance at Cornell, brought his 'Spoglia' dance production to his hometown March 21 for an outdoor performance. (April 2, 2008)

Poet Maya Angelou to deliver 2008 Convocation address
Renowned author, poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou will deliver the 2008 Cornell Convocation address to graduating seniors Saturday, May 24, at noon in Schoellkopf Stadium. (April 1, 2008)

Farred recounts a lifelong obsession with Liverpool football
Cornell faculty member Grant Farred related his lifelong love for the Liverpool Football Club and read from his recent memoir 'Long Distance Love' at the Cornell Store March 28. (April 1, 2008)

Obama's speech called 'unprecedented, risky, daring' by panelists
A panel of five Cornell professors and administrators talked on the topic 'American's Original Sin: Obama, Race, Religion and Politics' before several hundred people in Sage Chapel on March 27. (April 1, 2008)

Digital library expert Anne Kenney to lead Cornell Library system
Anne Kenney, an internationally respected expert in digital library development, has been named Cornell's Carl A. Kroch University Librarian. She has been serving as interim university librarian since February 2007. (March 31, 2008)

Mellon Foundation funds humanities professorships
A $2.5 million challenge grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will help Cornell endow three new senior professorships in the humanities. (March 26, 2008)

Cornellians shine at College Emmy Awards
Three Cornell filmmakers earned top honors including best comedy and best director at the 29th annual College Emmy Awards, March 15 in Los Angeles. (March 26, 2008)

Eco-Fashion Team turns T-shirts into an original recycled ensemble
The Eco-Fashion Team from Cornell's Office of Publications and Marketing has won prizes in this year's Green T Reuse Design Contest, an Ithaca-based project of SewGreen. (March 19, 2008)

Johnson Museum receives NEH grant for Bloomsbury exhibit
The National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded a grant of more than $366,000 to the Johnson Museum to support the upcoming exhibitions and related programming, including a scholarly symposium. (March 13, 2008)

Laura Restrepo views Colombia as a vanishing democracy
Colombian writer and activist Laura Restrepo, an A.D. White Professor-at-Large, discusses the state of her country and its impact on her life and art. (March 13, 2008)

From CU book contest to 'Star Trek' and 'Battlestar Galactica'
In 1986, Ronald D. Moore '86 received an honorable mention for his entry on 'Star Trek' literature in Cornell University Library's student book collection contest. He is now a producer for hit TV show 'Battlestar Galactica.' (March 11, 2008)

Alumnae are key players in BITTEN clothing line
Tiffany Todo '06, Susan Dauber '06 and Juliana Eisner '05 work as designers, and Jessy Curro '05 is a merchandise manager at Steve & Barry's, the clothing retailer that launched the Sarah Jessica Parker clothing line BITTEN last summer. (March 11, 2008)

Skorton, Davisson share passion for reading
From poetry to recent nonfiction to haiku; from medicine to music to dogs: Cornell President David Skorton and wife Robin Davisson shared selections from their favorite reads at Tompkins County Public Library, March 9. (March 10, 2008)

Lindsey Glover wins Bourke-White photo prize
M.F.A. candidate Lindsey Glover has won Cornell's inaugural Margaret Bourke-White Photography Portfolio Prize. Her entry will be on display outside the president's office through May. (March 10, 2008)

'Lincoln at Gettysburg' selected for 2008 reading project
Garry Wills' Pulitzer Prize-winning book, 'Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America,' is the selection for Cornell's 2008-09 New Student Reading Project. (March 6, 2008)

Ancient mosaic donated by M.H. Abrams graces Goldwin Smith Hall
A fifth-century mosaic of a lioness attacking an ibex, donated to Cornell by M.H. (Mike) Abrams, now graces the entrance of Goldwin Smith Hall, where Abrams wrote his acclaimed books of literary criticism. (March 4, 2008)

Novelist invites Cornell students to staged reading of his play
National Book Award-winning novelist and short story writer Denis Johnson hosted nine Cornell undergraduates enrolled in his seminar at a staged reading of his play 'Des Moines,' Feb. 29 at The Flea Theater in Manhattan. (March 4, 2008)

'Spoglia' dance concert evokes Rome in cinema, architecture
The multimedia dance production 'Spoglia' combines the black-and-white cinema, culture and architecture of Rome, March 6-9 the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. (March 3, 2008)

Flights of fancy in fiber art at Lab of Ornithology
Cornell's Laboratory of Ornithology is showing bird-related quilts and banners by fiber artists Elsie Dentes '77 and Alice Gant. (March 3, 2008)

Writing about children is 'dive' into hidden past, says novelist
In her first talk as an A.D. White Professor-at-Large, Laura Restrepo, a Colombian writer and political activist, talked about how authors who write about children must delve into their own hidden pasts. (Feb. 28, 2008)

Skorton, Davisson to speak on books that helped shape their lives
Cornell President David Skorton and his wife, Robin Davisson, will share from and discuss books that have had an impact on their lives at the Tompkins County Public Library, Sunday, March 9, at 2 p.m. (Feb. 28, 2008)

Wearable, musical, edible content revealed at 'Awkward: The Event'
The artistic student lifestyle publication Awkward presented its latest edition as an event at the Johnson Museum, complete with original music, fashion and food created around 13 concepts. (Feb. 28, 2008)

Glee Club performs to acclaim in Connecticut
On Feb. 15, a diverse program performed by the Cornell Glee Club 'engendered a big, big, big response' from an audience of 1,000 choral directors. (Feb. 28, 2008)

ArtLinks project encourages museum interaction
ArtLinks allowed viewers of a statue in the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art to record their reactions and view the perceptions of pervious viewers. (Feb. 27, 2008)

Retiring Stephen Cole leaves legacy onstage -- and off
Stephen Cole, professor of theater for almost 40 years at Cornell, will retire this year, leaving a legacy on campus and in the Ithaca theater scene. (Feb. 21, 2008)

An 80-year-old student project revealed in the guise of dolls
Cornell's Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections includes the Dora Erway Doll Collection, which comprises 37 costume dolls whose clothing and bodies were largely made by students in the 1920s. (Feb. 21, 2008)

Students keep Martin Luther King's legacy alive at memorial talk
Martin Luther King's legacy of activism and commitment to social justice is reflected in the lives of four Cornell students who discussed their work on behalf of social change in Sage Chapel Feb. 19. (Feb. 20, 2008)

Glee Club and Chorus travel to China
The Cornell University Chorus and Glee Club will travel to cities in mainland China to perform for a wide range of audiences, building on the Cornell-China relationship founded more than a century ago. (Feb. 20, 2008)

Images of Johnson Museum artworks promote Cornell Abroad
Images of art from the Johnson Museum displayed in Bethe House are helping to show students the opportunities for study abroad. (Feb. 14, 2008)

Library exhibition celebrates pivotal moments in black history
'Celebrating Black History: Pivotal Moments, Unique Collections,' a Cornell University Library exhibition, honors the history and contributions African-Americans have made to American life. (Feb. 13, 2008)

Campus chaplain marks 50th anniversary with essay contest
An essay contest to focus on 'what has been' and 'what is coming to be' commemorates the Rev. Robert S. Smith, who marks his 50th anniversary as an ordained Catholic priest in May. (Feb. 12, 2008)

Kenneth McClane speaks at Sage Chapel Feb. 17
Kenneth McClane, the W.E.B. DuBois Professor of Literature at Cornell, will offer a reflection on family and a tribute to his parents as part of the 2008 Sage Chapel Vespers Africana Sunday Series Feb. 17 at 4 p.m. (Feb. 12, 2008)

New course studies how media portray Americans abroad
A new course this semester, Americans Abroad, explores how visual and literary media portray Americans traveling in other countries. (Feb. 12, 2008)

Darwin letters brought to life in dramatization
A performance of 'Re:Design,' a dramatization of correspondence between Charles Darwin and Harvard botanist Asa Gray, kicked off Cornell's weeklong series of events celebrating Darwin Day 2008. (Feb. 12, 2008)

Tim Murray named director of the Society for the Humanities
The Society for the Humanities has for more than four decades spearheaded propagation of new knowledge and introduced interdisciplinary approaches to study that have had lasting institutional consequences. (Feb. 8, 2008)

Konstantin Frank wine cellars donates historic book collection
Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera Wine Cellars and the Frank family have donated a book collection comprising 137 19th- and 20th-century titles on wine and grape-related topics to the Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, N.Y. (Feb. 6, 2008)

Johnson Museum receives $500,000 challenge grant
The art museum has been awarded a $500,000 Kresge Foundation challenge grant to support its new underground extension. The museum must raise an additional $1.5 million by July 1, 2009, to receive the challenge grant. (Feb. 4, 2008)

Music with a mission: CU Winds revisit Costa Rica
The Cornell Wind Ensemble toured Costa Rica for the second time in January, delivering more than 80 donated instruments to three schools and performing concerts across the country. (Jan. 29, 2008)

Former student honors McConkey by endowing creative writing stipend
A Jan. 24 reception celebrated the James McConkey Summer Fellowship in Creative Writing, which will support a second-year MFA student who is completing a thesis. (Jan. 29, 2008)

Why deconstruction still matters, according to Jonathan Culler
In this interview with Paul Sawyer, Culler, two-time chair of the English department, offers some reflections on the enduring value of theory as an unbounded, ever-changing series of questions and vantage points. (Jan. 24, 2008)

Art as language: Jane Hammond at the Johnson Museum
Artist Jane Hammond, whose colorful use of symbols and found images forms a distinct visual language, is featured in a new exhibition at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. Hammond will speak at the museum Jan. 31 at 5:15 p.m. (Jan. 22, 2008)

Light in Winter 2008 explores 'Identity'
The 2008 Light in Winter Festival, Jan. 18-20, explores the theme of 'Identity' with science and arts programming on campus and off. (Jan. 15, 2008)

CU engineer helps art historians authenticate paintings
Engineering's Rick Johnson helps apply technology to authenticate art. He links historians and signal processors to spot forgeries among masters. (Jan. 8, 2008)

Late Cornell professor receives drama criticism award
Harvey Scott McMillin Jr., a renowned Cornell professor of English who died unexpectedly March 29, 2006, has posthumously won the George Jean Nathan award for his 2006 book, 'The Musical as Drama.' (Jan. 4, 2008)

Novelists, poets, activist headline 2008 Reading Series
The Creative Writing Program has announced the schedule for its spring 2008 Reading Series, which features established and emerging artists. All events, held on Thursdays, are free and open to the public. (Jan. 4, 2008)