Following 10 years working in Cornell’s telecommunications department, Henry Crans has been the director of facilities in the College of Arts and Sciences for 40 years, overseeing the construction of buildings from conception to occupancy. He especially is proud of Klarman Hall, which he considers one of the most beautiful buildings on campus. Crans has also worked part time with Cornell Outdoor Education teaching rock climbing, wilderness camping and cross-country skiing.
Thirty-three university staff members were recognized for earning academic degrees at the 23rd annual Staff Graduate Reception, May 20 in the Hall of Fame Room in Friends Hall.
Two Cornell staff members are receiving bachelor’s degrees from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Nineteen are receiving Cornell master’s degrees, two are receiving doctorates, and 10 are receiving degrees in higher education from other colleges and universities.
Over the course of two decades, Riché Richardson, associate professor of African-American literature in Cornell’s Africana Studies and Research Center, received her doctorate and two fellowships, taught at two universities, published numerous essays and a book – and survived three major surgeries.
Some of the 14 participants in this year’s Warrior-Scholar Project (WSP) at Cornell said their week of intensive study, July 21-29, taught them how to read critically, paying attention to the perspectives of the authors, their intended audiences and the historical contexts that informed their writings. Others noted the relevance of ancient works to present times.
The 2018 Community Engagement Showcase, April 16 in Klarman Hall, celebrated undergraduate and graduate students who collaborated with local and international communities.
Darnell Epps ’21 is a government major at Cornell’s College of Arts and Sciences and a research assistant for the Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide. His older brother, Darryl, was a member of the summer 2017 Justice in Education cohort at Columbia University and has counseled at-risk youth.
For José Armando Fernandez Guerrero ’18, two strong women – his grandmother, Apolonia, and his mother, Josefina – believed that his education would open opportunities. A third – a high school French teacher – showed him how to use his education, and the passion for languages and linguistics it inspired, to help him embrace and move beyond his past.
More than 200 awardees, nominees, nominators and senior staff members gathered at the Statler Ballroom for the fifth annual Employee Excellence Awards celebration March 13.
“You are held in the highest regard by the student-athletes,” Vice President Ryan Lombardi told the audience, “for your willingness to listen when they are struggling with school work, family issues and missing home.”
Tucked away in the basement of Clark Hall are five staff members whose machining expertise is integral to the success of many of the designs, experiments and innovations of Cornell’s physics faculty, graduate students and postdocs, as well as to work done within other departments and units across campus.
Craig Wiggers, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel with 25 years of service, is director of administration for the physics department and says he loves Cornell’s welcoming, supportive environment.
Whether they served in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Coast Guard, the 15 veterans and reservists of the first 2017 Warrior-Scholar Project (WSP) class agreed they gained a greater appreciation for democracy in the United States by seeing people from other countries aspire to a way of life many Americans take for granted.
Ava Ramsundar ’17 will follow the passion that prompted her to minor in education and join Teach For America (TFA) after graduation. Ramsundar, who majored in psychology and hopes to become a psychiatrist, will teach in Paterson, New Jersey, this fall.
Travis Ghirdharie ’17, who majored in government and anthropology, also has joined TFA and will teach social studies at the Math, Engineering and Science Academy in Brooklyn, New York.
Imagine serving in the military, having life-changing experiences, then re-entering civilian life only to realize that to fulfill your dreams you need to go to college.
When she was growing up in Harlem, Ginger So ’79 walked 10 blocks each way once a week to borrow books from the public library.
In those books, she saw photographs of an America she did not know – an America of houses with white picket fences – and images of other countries. Her reading made her want to travel, so she followed the advice of her mother and studied hard, gained entrance to a good high school and later was admitted to Cornell.
Chad Coates, assistant dean of admissions and advising in the College of Arts and Sciences, was voted Cornell’s 14th employee-elected trustee in an election held April 11-13. More than 1,300 staff members participated in the election.
Succeeding Alan Mittman, Coates will begin his four-year term July 1.
