How is Cornell dealing with a reduction in state funding? What programs are at risk, given the university's fiscal challenges? What is the university doing to generate revenue from its research?

Those were some of the questions on the minds of alumni who talked with Cornell President David Skorton July 23 during his third online "Conversations with David Skorton."

Some 70 alumni participated, twice the number that signed up for the May discussion, said Chris Marshall, associate vice president for alumni affairs. "This is a way to reach a broad, geographically diverse group of our closest friends, who are hearing from our leader on important topics that we're facing, good and bad," Marshall said. "And it's a really cost-efficient way to do it."

David Brand, former director of Chronicle Online and now the university's editor, facilitated the hour-long conference from Sage Hall's recording studio. Participants phoned in or submitted questions and comments via e-mail, and were able to see and hear Skorton via voice and video links.

Most questions centered on Cornell's fiscal challenges. The first participant suggested that Cornell could better engage its alumni by funding the distribution of Cornell Alumni Magazine, which is owned and operated by the Cornell Alumni Federation. Alumni currently pay for the magazine either individually or as part of class dues. While acknowledging the importance of the magazine and promising to explore further the issue raised, Skorton noted that the university has stopped printing many of its alumni and other communications and put them online. "We're trying a variety of experiments," he said. "The only way we're going to know if they work is by your feedback. Write to me directly -- david.skorton@cornell.edu."

A second participant said that the university is not getting enough state support. Skorton pointed out that Cornell receives roughly the same amount of its total revenue from the state -- about 10 percent -- as several other prominent, research-intensive state universities receive from their states. "We have to do our share to improve the state's economy by working with industry to keep jobs and keep people in New York," he said, "even if state revenue challenges are reducing the proportionate share of state support."

On the expenditure side, how could Cornell economize from consolidating its famously decentralized infrastructure, another alumnus asked. "This is exactly what I'm spending my time on," Skorton said. He went on to describe the university's strategic plan, called Reimagining Cornell. "One tough thing about Cornell ... is that academically there are not a lot of weak areas that we should obviously phase out. …That doesn't mean that we should not look at the number of departments called X, the number of functions called Y and come up with a smaller number than we have."

On the revenue side, a participant asked what Cornell is doing to generate revenue from its research while protecting the faculty's intellectual freedom. As the state's largest spender of research funds, Skorton said: "... the university has to think more clearly about getting appropriate intellectual property out into the private sector so it can do some good in an economic sense, while continuing to support staunchly the model of faculty-initiated research as opposed to a top-down research agenda, which doesn't work. ... And industry has to think about universities not as contractors or vendors but as partners in research. I think we're making progress on that."

Also, an alumna announced that the Class of 1979 raised almost $14 million during its 30th Reunion.

The next "Conversations with David Skorton" are scheduled for Aug. 20 and Sept. 25. Participation is by invitation only, Marshall said; alumni will be able to sign up for future conversations as the program expands to include other university leaders, faculty and key staff, he said.