Though most students were away from campus for winter break on Jan. 11, Cornell faculty, staff and alumni helped kick off the yearlong celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of the university's founder, Ezra Cornell.
In early January, Cornell President David Skorton embarked on a 10-day, four-city tour of India, seeking to extend Cornell's mission as the world's land-grant university. Skorton participated in a tree planting at a research institute in Hyderabad with Ronnie Coffman, Cornell professor of plant breeding, far left. Later in the year, Skorton visited Japan, South Korea and China.
Department of Art chair Buzz Spector went to Manhattan in January to assemble more than 800 books by Cornell authors for the 'Big Red C' in the loft of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning. The structure was Spector's first major book installation in the city.
David Harris, Cornell vice provost for social sciences, discussed issues and ideas with faculty, staff and students at the University Diversity Council's first campus forum in February. In August, Provost Biddy Martin named Harris to the new position of deputy provost.
On Valentine's Day, almost 30 inches of snow fell on the Cornell campus, forcing the university to close for the first time in eight years. Students could be seen sledding, skiing and trudging around campus in knee-deep snow.
Dozens of poets, many of them students, gathered in Cornell's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art in April for a poetry slam, a quasi-competitive event whose real purpose was to share the enjoyment of performing poetry. Emcee Kate Greenberg '08 presented one of her poems in front of the sculpture 'Two Naked Guys' in the museum lobby.
First-year architecture students wrangled a dragon made of steel, bamboo and imagination through heavy snow on Cornell's 106th annual Dragon Day on March 16.
Provost Biddy Martin, center, shared a light moment with President David Skorton and his wife, professor Robin Davisson, before delivering the inaugural Academic State of the University Address to a capacity audience in Call Alumni Auditorium in March.
Cornell in Rome student Caren Carlson '08, left, discussed her photography with Eve O. Schaub '93 at the Cornell in Rome program's art studio space at Palazzo Lazzaroni at the program's March celebration of its 20th anniversary.
College of Veterinary Medicine Dean Donald Smith talked with Albany TV reporter Tracy Egan in March following a press conference at which state researchers reported they had identified a toxic compound in samples of pet food that had claimed the lives of dozens of dogs and cats. Smith stepped down June 30 after 10 years as dean. He was succeeded by Professor Michael Kotlikoff.
A student in Willard Straight Hall added his thoughts to a banner for the Together We Mourn Project in remembrance of the 32 students and faculty who lost their lives in the April 16 Virginia Tech University campus shooting.
KyotoNOW! members, from left, Katherine McEachern, Carlos Rymer and Emily Rochon showed their support for the sustainability goals set by Cornell President David Skorton on Feb. 22, when the president signed a climate commitment linking Cornell to 80 other schools in a clean-energy policy aimed at reducing greenhouse gases.
In April, design student Olivia Ong '07 hugged two of her garments treated with metallic nanoparticles. She created them in collaboration with fiber scientists Juan Hinestroza and Hong Dong. The functional clothing can prevent colds and flu and never needs washing, and the wearer is protected from smog and air pollution.
From left, Thitidej Tularak, M.Eng. '06, Rarinthorn Thammakulkrajang '10 and Pisut Wisessing '07 in September re-created blackboard illustrations used in an animated film about the Mandelbrot Set, a mathematical formula, which was featured on YouTube.
Iota Phi Theta dancers entertained throngs of students during Slope Day, May 4.
On the list of 'things to do before you graduate': Shake hands with President David Skorton. Dozens of Cornell seniors completed the item on April 27 as part of The Amazing Race, an event sponsored by the 2007 Senior Class Council.
Members of the Cornell men's lacrosse team celebrated May 12 after junior John Glynn's overtime goal took the Big Red to a 12-11 win over Albany. The victory gave the team a 15-0 record and sent them to the NCAA semifinals, where they fell to Duke, 12-11.
President David Skorton delivered his first Cornell Commencement address to the graduating class of 2007 in Schoellkopf Stadium, May 27.
Milt Kogan groomed a horse as Kate Allen '08 and Nichole Moon '09 watched during a May visit to the Equine Research Park for Professor Dan Brown's Introduction to Animal Science course. Kogan, an agricultural sciences major, finished up his degree requirements, participated in the Commencement exercises and stayed in town afterward to attend his 50th Cornell Reunion. In 1956 Kogan had left Cornell after his junior year to go directly to medical school.
Esther 'Dilly' Prudden and Louise 'Davy' Davis, both Cornell Class of 1937, shared a laugh June 8 during Reunion Weekend.
Weill Cornell Medical College's capital campaign reached the halfway point of its $1.3 billion goal on June 13 with the announcement of $400 million in campaign gifts. An additional $50 million for life sciences research on the Ithaca campus was also announced. From left, President David Skorton, Weill Cornell Medical College Dean Antonio M. Gotto Jr., Chairman of the Board of Overseers Sanford Weill and wife Joan, and Chairman of the Cornell University Board of Trustees Peter Meinig.
Matt White '07, center, took a group of 15 Chinese high school principals from Beijing and Shanghai on a tour of campus in July. The educators spent a week in Ithaca learning about U.S. education.
Stewart Schwab, dean of the Cornell Law School, spoke at the July 17 dedication ceremony of the Cornell Center for Documentation on American Law at the Cour de cassation in Paris. His audience included U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg '54, seated, and professor Claire Germain, right. Three other U.S. Supreme Court justices and their European counterparts also were in attendance, as well as a contingent of faculty, alumni and students from Cornell Law School and its summer institute in Paris.
Head football coach Jim Knowles, left, congratulated legendary literary scholar and avid Cornell football fan Mike Abrams, professor emeritus of English, at his 95th birthday party, July 15. Knowles presented Abrams with a football jersey that he wore to the Oct. 6 Harvard game in his role as honorary team co-captain.
Cornell Symphony Orchestra conductor Chris Yonghoon Kim, left, led soloists Stephen Miahky, right, and John Haines-Eitzen, behind Kim, during a Jan. 8 rehearsal for a concert in the historic church Evangelische Kirchengemeinde Grunewald in Berlin, Jan. 14, part of a weeklong visit to Germany.
Warren Price, right, of Urban Strategies Inc., answered questions following a Sept. 26 presentation on Cornell's Comprehensive Master Plan, which emphasizes Cornell's town-and-country feel.
To address such pressing health challenges as HIV/AIDS and malnutrition in developing nations, Cornell established an innovative Global Health Program, a collaborative effort between Cornell's Ithaca campus and Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City. Students from WCMC and Cornell's International Development program conducted research in Tanzania.
Sean Sweeney, left, director of the ILR School's Global Labor Institute, greeted U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont at the GLI-sponsored meeting with trade union leaders in New York City in May. The meeting addressed energy alternatives, new kinds of jobs, what a largely noncarbon energy economy might look like, policy options and how to build stronger ties between the labor and environmental movements here and abroad.
A team of Cornell scientists and art conservators used the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source and a confocal X-ray fluorescence to view layers of colorful oil paint beneath finished masterpieces in July. CHESS senior research associate Arthur Woll adjusted equipment used for scanning N.C. Wyeth's 'Family Portrait.'
In its Aug. 27 issue, Newsweek named Cornell the nation's 'Hottest Ivy' in the magazine's ranking of the '25 Hottest Schools.' Elsewhere, Cornell was listed in the top 10 creative writing programs, lauded as having the best motto of any American college or university, and named a 'best employer' by both AARP and Working Mother magazine.
Students listened to President David Skorton during New Student Convocation, Aug. 18. Skorton emphasized freedom with responsibility in his welcome address to several thousand new and transfer students and their families.
Members of the Ordinary People theater troupe performed at the Tapestry of Possibilities diversity program in Robert Purcell Community Center. The performance on Aug. 20, during Orientation Week, aimed to stretch the comfort zones for new students.
Dean Emeritus Robert Beck '42, Ph.D. '54, left, shared a laugh with Lee Pillsbury '69, the master of ceremonies, during the Hotel School's 85th anniversary celebration at the Union League Club in New York City Sept. 24.
Gail Holst-Warhaft, director of the Institute for European Studies' Mediterranean Initiative and leader of a delegation to Greece, peered into a storefront window in Vathi, capital of the Ionian island of Ithaca, on Oct. 7. The European Union's 'Getting to Know Europe' grant supported the trip.
Team Cornell made the final six with a converted Chevy Tahoe engineered to be driven by artificial intelligence in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge in Victorville, Calif., Nov. 3. The car can navigate city streets, obey traffic laws, pass, merge and avoid other vehicles without human assistance.
Rob Bloomfield, a Johnson School professor who uses the online virtual world Second Life as his classroom, during the fall semester guided 10 graduate students through the complex economics arising in the 'metaverse' of virtual worlds.
Mohsen Mostafavi, dean of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, looked on as the undergraduate banner for AAP was unveiled at Hans Bethe House on West Campus Oct. 3. Banners for each of the undergraduate colleges were unveiled at the event. The banners symbolize the important role that house faculty fellows play in the residential experience at the West Campus House System.
With about 13,000 rabid Cornell hockey fans helping sell out New York City's most-famous indoor sports venue Nov. 24, Madison Square Garden became the (Big) Red Sea. And despite Cornell's 6-3 loss to Boston University, the fans enjoyed turning the venerable Garden into 'Lynah East.'
The 14th Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, presented Cornell President David Skorton with a traditional Tibetan silk scarf outside the Johnson Museum, Oct. 9. Making his first visit to the university since 1991, the Dalai Lama spoke to an audience of about 5,000 about peace and compassion and declared that genuine peace 'must come from internal peace.'
Novelist Salman Rushdie, author of 'The Satanic Verses' and 'Midnight's Children,' chatted with English chair Molly Hite Oct. 18 before taking the Uris Auditorium stage to speak about his writing and the dangerous and trying times he has been forced to live through.
Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor served as the Cornell Law School's jurist in residence for a week in October. She spoke on 'Women in Leadership Roles' on Oct. 22, and she defended the court's ruling on the 2000 presidential election in a public lecture the following night.
Angela Y. Davis, the 1960s radical and longtime prison abolitionist and scholar, continued to inspire a new generation of activists during her visit to Cornell in September. She explained that imprisonment provides a negative definition of American freedom and democracy, and is a system that only hurts society.
Despite his fear of bears, Stephen Colbert made friends with Cornell's mascot during his 'I Am America, and So Can You' book tour. With the mood set, Colbert, comedian, faux presidential candidate and host of Comedy Central's 'The Colbert Report,' kept the Barton Hall crowd of 5,000 roaring through two sold-out shows, Oct. 26.
The university mourned the death of Kurt Vonnegut Jr., novelist, counterculture icon and Cornellian, who died April 11 in Manhattan at age 84.
James R. Richards, DVM, director of the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine's Feline Health Center and a nationally recognized expert in cat care, died April 24 at age 58 from injuries received in an April 22 motor vehicle accident.
