From flame wars on twitter to sleepless nights, four of the country’s leading science journalists spoke of the challenges they’ve faced covering the COVID-19 pandemic during an April 28 event hosted by the College of Arts & Sciences.
“I’ve tried to have as professional a relationship with the virus as I can at this point,” said Apoorva Mandavilli, a New York Times reporter focused on…
More than 30 students who have conducted research will present their work in a virtual conference May 6-7. One panel investigates the ideas of Goldwin Smith, while other presentations focus on migrant workers in Singapore, political violence in Africa and other topics.
The Humanities Scholars Undergraduate Research Conference will begin with the work of students in the College of Arts &…
Three students in the College of Arts & Sciences have been honored with Harry Truman and Barry Goldwater scholarships.
Cosimo Fabrizio ’22, is the winner of the Harry Truman Scholarship, which provides $30,000 toward graduate school for juniors committed to careers in public service. This year 62 scholars were selected from a pool of 845 candidates representing 328 colleges and…
Four science journalists leading the way in coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic will discuss their experiences in an upcoming College of Arts & Sciences virtual event April 28.
“Covering COVID: How Journalists Tackled the Biggest Science Story of our Time,” will be moderated by Faye Flam, Bloomberg opinion columnist and host of the podcast "Follow the Science.”
Panelists will include:…
Archana Podury ’18, has been named a 2021 fellow in the Paul & Daisy Soros Fellowships for New Americans program, a merit-based graduate school program for immigrants and children of immigrants.
Podury was chosen from a pool of 2,445 applicants, the most the program has ever received. Fellows, selected for their potential to make significant contributions to the United States, will each…
More than a year ago, Duoer Jia ‘21 and Sara Pistono ’21 set out to produce a play written by an Asian playwright, one where actresses of color could take center stage and where their racial backgrounds would be in the foreground of the story, not the background.
They’re thrilled that “Asiamnesia,” being presented online April 15-17 by the Department of Performing and Media Arts, does just…
Gregor-Fausto Siegmund, a doctoral student in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, was recently awarded the Ecological Society of America’s Katherine S. McCarter Graduate Student Policy Award.
The award provides graduate students with the opportunity to receive policy and communication training before they meet lawmakers. Students meet virtually in April to learn about the…
How has politics already been shaped and disrupted by technology and artificial intelligence?
If intelligent machines are going to be a part of our political system, can they make ethical decisions?
Panelists will address these and other questions during an April 15 Arts Unplugged virtual event in the College of Arts & Sciences. “Policy, Politics and Ethics of the Coming AI Revolution”…
The College of Arts & Sciences will welcome a new director of human resources, Taylor Shuler, beginning on April 1. Shuler, senior HR business partner in the Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science and Cornell Engineering HR Service Center, will take over for Sara Bloxsom, who’s worked in the dean’s office for more than 36 years, 27 of those directing the college…
What are the human effects of U.S. war and foreign policy in Southeast Asia? How do refugees themselves continue to make sense of war, empire and national belonging?
An April 1 webinar, “Critical Refugee Studies: Militarism, Migration, and Memory-work,” will bring together three leading scholars of refugee studies to explore those questions as they relate to a range of humanitarian efforts,…
What began as a class project exploring a fraught period of Ithaca history has transformed into a COVID-related comic that Leo Levy ’20, hopes can reach people with a lesson from the past and an accessible message about public health.
“Reflections” tells the story of Ithaca’s typhoid epidemic of 1903, which Levy discovered in 2020 during the pandemic, as he wandered around Ithaca’s gorges and…
Amy Crouch, right, and her dad Andy, relax on Libe Slope
Amy Crouch ’22 doesn’t believe that we need to throw our devices out the window or abide by a long list of rules to limit our screen time. But she does think everyone – and particularly her fellow young adults – should take a look at the ways tech influences their life. And perhaps take steps to fight back.
Crouch, a linguistics major in the College of Arts & Sciences, recently…
Cornell University
Walter F. LaFeber, the Andrew H. and James S. Tisch Distinguished University Professor Emeritus in the Department of History.
A professorship has been established in the College of Arts & Sciences to honor Walter LaFeber, the Andrew H. and James S. Tisch Distinguished University Professor Emeritus in the Department of History, who died March 9 at the age of 87. Tom Pepinsky, a Tisch University Professor in government, will be the inaugural Walter F. LaFeber Professor.
The professorship was created…
For most Cornell students, plans to study somewhere off campus were put on hold this academic year. The same was true for Carl Beach ’22, who was hoping to spend this semester improving his Spanish skills by studying abroad in Spain.
But not willing to give up on the travel idea, Beach followed up on a program he’d heard about through his environment and sustainability major, World Wide…
As a College Scholar and Mellon Mays fellow at Cornell, Ariana Marmora ’11 found ways to combine her interests in government, philosophy, intellectual history, comparative literature and public service.
As the newest assistant district attorney in the Tompkins County District Attorney’s office, Marmora is combining all of her skills to tackle a job that’s about more than just prosecuting cases…
Jessica Chen Weiss, associate professor of government, was the featured speaker for this year’s Mitzi Sutton Russekoff ’54 Lecture, hosted by the College of Arts & Sciences on March 16.
Weiss’ talk “The domestic politics of Chinese foreign policy and US-China relations” was offered in a virtual webinar from 7-8 p.m. EST, with time after for questions and answers.
During…
The Milstein Program in Technology & Humanity is hosting two events this semester open to the public.
“A Life Making Your Software Secure and Your Data Private… or Trying To,” an “In Focus” talk with Ulfar Erlingsson PhD ’04, is scheduled for March 2, 4:30-5:30 p.m. Erlingsson is the former head of security research at Google Brain and Machine Learning Privacy Technologies at Apple,…
Aurora Mu ’24, front, makes the most of a recent snowfall with friends
Chatting with first-year students in the College of Arts & Sciences would normally be done over coffee at the Temple of Zeus, with stories, smiles and even some tears, talking about the ups and downs of the huge transition to college life.
These days, the chats happen by Zoom but the stories, the laughter and the hopes and dreams are still the same. In some ways, the Class of 2024 is…
The talents of two Cornell music faculty members are featured on a newly-released recording, “Beauty Intolerable: Songs of Sheila Silver.”
Lucy Fitz Gibbon, interim director of the Cornell Vocal Program, and her husband, pianist Ryan McCullough DMA ’20, a visiting faculty member in the Department of Music, perform together on “Chariessa," settings of Silver’s music featuring poetry by…
Molly O’Toole ’09, an immigration and security reporter with the Los Angeles Times, has been named the Zubrow Distinguished Visiting Journalist Fellow in the College of Arts and Sciences.
The program brings accomplished journalists to Cornell each year to interact with faculty, researchers and students. Marc Lacey ’87, assistant managing editor for The New York Times, was the inaugural…
Four faculty members in the College of Arts & Sciences were recently approved as endowed professors by the Cornell Board of Trustees, continuing the college’s priority to recognize faculty excellence and accomplishments.
With these four, the number of A&S faculty appointed to endowed professorships since fall 2018 has reached 34.
“These coveted appointments are an important part of…
A new initiative from the Department of Performing and Media Arts, the Asian American Studies Program, and the Latina/o Studies Program is inviting students and community members to engage in hands-on workshops and conversations with artists and arts/performance scholars. The next visit is Feb. 18.
“Critical Moves: Performance in Theory & Movement,” envisioned as…
For the 32 students who make up the first cohort in the College of Arts & Sciences’ Humanities Scholars Program, the humanities are interwoven into everything they see going on in the world.
“Engineers and scientists are the people who innovate and engage us technologically, but they rarely prepare us for the consequences of that technology. The humanists are the ethicists,” said…
The College of Arts & Sciences will continue its celebration of the life of Toni Morrison M.A. ’55 with a slate of activities this spring, kicking off with a “Toni Morrison at 90” colloquium to honor Morrison’s 90th birthday on Feb. 18.
Other events include a Feb. 19 encore presentation of the Oct. 8 reading of “The Bluest Eye,” which included authors Ta-Nehisi Coates, Tayari Jones and…
Jeff Fusco
Pianist Michelle Cann playing Florence Price's Piano Concerto in One Movement with the Philadelphia Orchestra.
As the Philadelphia Orchestra took the stage in January to record its digital performances for the spring season, a pair of Cornell faculty were there to witness history in the making as part of their new arts advocacy initiative: ONEcomposer.
Housed in Cornell’s Department of Music, ONEcomposer celebrates musicians whose contributions have been historically erased, and its inaugural season is…
In a meeting last month, the Cornell Board of Trustees approved changing the name of the Department of English to the Department of Literatures in English, a change that faculty members say better reflects the world and the department’s diverse fields of study.
“We seek to make it clear to students and the broad public that we study writers from Africa, South Asia, the Caribbean, and the U.S.,…
Two undergraduates in the College of Arts & Sciences and a recent graduate of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences have been named Pickering Fellows by the U.S. Department of State. These are Cornell’s first Pickering Fellows since 2011.
The Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship Program, managed by Howard University, supports students who are interested in working in the U…
A scene from "In the Mood for Love," part of the Wong Kar Wai series showing this semester at Cornell Cinema
After the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered movie theatres last spring, Cornell Cinema director Mary Fessenden had to move to a virtual model in order to offer films last Fall, but she wanted to continue to offer the cinema’s usual variety of films, as well as films with ties to courses. The Fall season did just that, and this spring semester, the Cinema will continue to offer a wide variety of films…
“You are human. You are meant to make mistakes. You are meant to be happy. You are deserving. Stay amazing.”
These lyrics, inspired by students at Cornell and at Longmeadow High School in Longmeadow, Mass., are part of an online choral/video project the students created in partnership with composer LJ White.
The idea for “You Are,” came together during brainstorming sessions between Stephen…
Samantha Sasaki ’23 has been fascinated by the role of music in creating social and political change since high school. Since her interests don’t fit well into one major, she knew even before coming to Cornell that she would apply for the College Scholar Program in the College of Arts & Sciences.
In December, she was named one of 24 scholars in the program, which allows students to design…
Entrepreneurship at Cornell has named Jessica Rolph ’97, MBA ’04, co-founder and CEO of early childhood development startup Lovevery, its 2021 Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year. Rolph will be honored at the Entrepreneurship at Cornell Eclectic Convergence conference, Nov. 12 in New York City. After earning her MBA, Rolph co-founded organic baby food brand Happy Family, which was acquired by Group…
Morales is excited to be a first-year student at Cornell, but she’s experiencing her first semester online from her apartment in the Bronx. Her parents have lost their jobs, so she and her sister are working part-time to support the family. And she’s tired of hearing other students say “we’re all in the same boat,” because, frankly, her boat seems a lot less seaworthy than many of her classmates…
The College of Arts & Sciences has named Ray Kim its new director of advising. Kim, who joined the college in 2004 as an assistant dean in admissions and advising, said he looks forward to leading the advising staff as they work to support students during this challenging time. Since 2017, he has not been working in advising, but rather in admissions, most recently as the College’s deputy…
A group of Cornell students have launched a campaign to free a Salvadoran woman in a detention center whom they befriended through a class focused on refugees and immigration. The class, “Refugees and the Politics of Vulnerability: Intersections of Feminist Theory and Practice,” is taught by Jane Juffer, professor of English and feminist, gender and sexuality studies. Juffer met Ingrid Hernandez…
A total of 17 entrepreneurial students from the College of Arts & Sciences were part of teams who shared plans for new businesses in two online December events — the Big Idea Competition and eLab Early Stage Pitch event. Ten of the 21 teams accepted into eLab this year include students from the College of Arts & Sciences and two teams in the Big Idea Competition were led by Arts &…
As course enrollment opens up this week, students in the College of Arts & Sciences have access to dozens of new courses for spring 2021, thanks in part to the College’s new curriculum, which took effect this fall for students in the class of 2024.
The new curriculum focuses on the theme of exploration and reaffirms the college’s commitment to a liberal arts and sciences education. Changes…
A group of Cornell undergrads celebrated earlier this month after they learned that an incarcerated man they had been collaborating with was given parole after 28 years in prison. Another group of students, whose applicant’s parole was denied, is signing on to work alongside him again when he can re-apply – two years from now. The students, part of a new Cornell chapter of the Parole Preparation…
Although Viraj Govani ’23 can’t visit the mice in his lab in person this semester, he’s still able to continue moving forward in his research into diabetes and obesity by analyzing data that’s being recorded by grad students. Shiyu Anna Hu ’22 was planning to travel this year to conduct research for her College Scholar Project. Instead, she’s altered her research topic and is studying…
What began more than a year ago as an effort to celebrate a somewhat unknown female Black composer has grown into a collaboration between Cornell’s choral faculty, a major orchestra and musicians and faculty from across the country, who are participating in a host of initiatives to honor the works of Florence Price.
Price attended the New England Conservatory of Music in 1904 and gained fame…
Nobel and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Toni Morrison, M.A. ’55, will be one of six women inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. The virtual induction ceremony, scheduled for Dec. 10 at 7:30 p.m., is open to the public. Registration is required. Morrison, who died Aug. 5, 2019, at age 88, earned a bachelor of science degree in English in 1953 at Howard…
As Phillip Brian Harper M.F.A. ’85, M.A. ’86, PhD ’88 considers taking on a new job, he always asks himself a couple of questions: Could I have an even greater impact in this new role? Do I have something to contribute to this conversation that no one else does? In his newest position as Program Director for Higher Learning at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, which he began Oct. 1, Harper will…
As Cornell prepared to open for in-person instruction this fall, the offices of Student and Campus Life and Cornell Health reached out to recruit a host of COVID ambassadors, students who would help support the university’s public health campaign and reinforce the behavioral compact in an effort to minimize transmission of the virus. We asked several of the ambassadors to share their thoughts on…
A new initiative from the Department of Performing and Media Arts, the Asian American Studies Program, and the Latina/o Studies Program is inviting students and community members to engage in hands-on workshops and conversations with artists and arts/performance scholars. The next visit is Thursday, Oct. 29.
“Critical Moves: Performance in Theory & Movement,”…
Singer Ariana Grande probably never imagined that her song “7 Rings” might one day be used to help middle-schoolers learn about the electoral college. But that’s just what it’s doing in the hands of two Cornell students, Cosimo Fabrizio ‘22 and Drew Speckman ‘21, co-founders of rapStudy, which pairs popular song melodies with lyrics meant to help elementary and middle schoolers learn about…
A total of 122 readers, plus a number of Cornell musicians, paid tribute to Toni Morrison M.A. ’55 Oct. 8 during a marathon reading of “The Bluest Eye.”
The seven-hour reading, which was powered by eCornell and organized by the College of Arts & Sciences, included authors such as Ta-Nehisi Coates, Tayari Jones and Edwidge Danticat, U.S. poet laureate Joy Harjo, activist Angela Davis and…
Rubin Smith ’21 started volunteering at Cayuga Medical Center (CMC) and the Ithaca Free Clinic way before the COVID-19 pandemic began, but he’s continued that work, spending time three days a week helping patients and visitors at both places. A chemistry major on the premed track, Smith said his volunteer experiences have helped him focus on his motivations for entering medicine, and helped…
For faculty members in the Department of Music, a return to campus made for difficult choices – would it be possible to create music together while safely socially distancing? Or would they need to devise other ways to help their students make music a part of their lives without being together in large ensembles?
Samantha Rubin ’23, was one of the many student musicians who wondered what this…
Kathleen Gemmell was so busy sending just one more update of a department chair’s handbook that she was a few minutes late to her own retirement party. That says a lot about Gemmell’s commitment to her job as director of planning, policy & academic support for the College of Arts and Sciences, a position she has held for 42 years. She was celebrated Sept. 15 during a Zoom retirement party…
Authors Ta-Nehisi Coates, Tayari Jones and Edwidge Danticat and U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo will join scholars from around the country to celebrate Toni Morrison M.A. ’55, as Cornell University’s College of Arts & Sciences hosts a livestreamed reading of her first novel, “The Bluest Eye.”
The Oct. 8 livestream will also include 50 other readers in a full reading of the novel on the 50th…
Faculty members planning this year’s Cornell Celebrates Toni Morrison series have spent considerable time discussing how to handle, for a general audience, the brutal language of racism and scenes of sexual violence in “The Bluest Eye.” The book will be read in its entirety in an Oct. 8 livestream event, featuring authors, poets, scholars and members of the Cornell and Ithaca communities. At the…
