Things to Do, Feb. 6-13

Joel Salatin
Provided
Alternative farmer Joel Salatin, whose farm is featured in 'Food, Inc.', will give two public talks on campus this week.

A will to love

“Jennie’s Will,” a musical play about Jennie McGraw, the Cornell Chimes’ first donor, and Willard Fiske, the university’s first librarian, will have two free performances, Feb. 7 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 8 at 3 p.m., in Barnes Hall.

Written by Mark Simon, DMA ’85, and Pamela Monk, the play was commissioned for the bicentennial of the Town of Dryden and first performed in Dryden and at Cornell in January 1997. In this production, soprano Karen Wonder Dumont, DVM ’02, stars as Jennie McGraw; and tenor Mark Lawrence, web communications manager for Cornell’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future, portrays Fiske.

Jennie’s father, local lumber merchant John McGraw, provided funds for Cornell’s first building, McGraw Hall. Jennie donated a nine-bell chime set for the new campus in 1868. She met Fiske the following year, but because of his social status they could not marry until after her father’s death in 1877. They wed in Berlin in 1880. When Jennie died of tuberculosis less than two years later, a legal battle ensued between Cornell and Fiske over her estate.

Land-grant challenges

Mann Library hosts a Sesquicentennial Lecture and book talk Feb. 10 at 4 p.m. in the Stern Seminar Room with Robert Sternberg, author of “The Modern Land-Grant University.” The event is free and open to the public, with books available for purchase and signing.

In the book, Sternberg, a Cornell professor of human development, offers land-grant institutions (Cornell included) a vision to meet such modern challenges as developing new funding models, re-evaluating their mission and making decisions about future models of education, in an increasingly competitive environment.

The Morrill Land Grant Acts of 1862 and 1890 outlined a mission of not only agricultural development but changing the world in positive, meaningful ways and incorporating opportunity for all. The first Morrill Act led to Cornell’s founding as a land grant institution in 1865. Today, the essence of the land grant is in its mission of service and service-minded leadership, providing a liberal and relevant education through stimulating research, crafting the undergraduate academic experience or extension activities engaging the community.

Sternberg is also the author of “Academic Leadership in Higher Education” and “Ethical Challenges in the Behavioral and Brain Sciences,” both published this month.

The lecture is presented in conjunction with the exhibition "Knowledge with a Public Purpose: A Cornell History," on display in March in the Mann Library galleries.

Fund your projects

The Cornell Council for the Arts (CCA) is accepting applications for projects to be presented between fall 2015 and spring 2016. The CCA Grant Program offers direct financial support for the development of new, experimental and exceptional arts projects by Cornell students, faculty, programs and departments.

The CCA hosts an in-person info session Feb. 10, 5:15-6:30 p.m. in 115 W. Sibley Hall, to answer questions about applying for a grant. The application deadline is March 6.

For more information on the application process or grant criteria, or to register for the info session, contact Erin Emerson, program coordinator, at cca@cornell.edu or 607-255-7274. For an application form and guidelines, visit cca.cornell.edu.

Share your story

Feb. 10 is the last day for undergraduate students to submit MyCornell contest entries and share their Cornell experiences in the form of a video or essay.

As an opportunity to participate in the university’s sesquicentennial celebrations, the contests seek submissions from students on people who have influenced their lives at Cornell, experiences they would like to share with future Cornellians, memorable learning experiences, or inspiring encounters with a professor, extra-curricular activity, study abroad program or community service project.

For contest rules, contacts and submission information, see http://150.cornell.edu/participate/writing/ or http://150.cornell.edu/participate/video/.

First prize in the video contest is $500; the winning video will be featured at a “Sight and Sound” event at Cornell Cinema during Charter Day weekend, April 24-27. Winners of the essay contest will receive $300 and the opportunity to read their work during Charter Day weekend.

Feeding the world

Alternative farmer Joel Salatin will discuss sustainable agriculture in two free public talks on campus this week.

“Redeeming the Earth,” Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m. in Call Auditorium, is the annual Alan T. and Linda M. Beimfohr Lecture presented by Chesterton House.

“Can We Feed the World?” is Feb. 12 at 4:30 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. Co-sponsored with University Lectures, the talk is presented by the Department of Philosophy in conjunction with the course “Ethics of Eating.”

A third-generation farmer in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley, Salatin, 57, has since 1982 refined and added to his parents’ ideas. Polyface Farms is a family-owned “beyond organic” farm serving local markets – more than 5,000 families, 10 retail outlets and 50 restaurants – through on-farm sales and metropolitan buying clubs, and information outreach.

Salatin also writes extensively on food and agriculture topics for trade magazines. The farm is featured in the New York Times bestseller “Omnivore's Dilemma” by food writer Michael Pollan and in the award-winning documentary film “Food, Inc.,” as well as in such magazines as Smithsonian, National Geographic and Gourmet and on radio and television.

Media Contact

Joe Schwartz