Archive for category: Front Page

Though it still feels like summer, Cornell students have been in class for three weeks. Among the nearly 4000 new students on campus is our new Class of 1974 Scholar, Wendolyn Gonzalez from High Point, North Carolina. Wendi is a freshman in the College of Art, Architecture & Planning and excited to be at Cornell. You will hear more about her in the months ahead. Our former Class Scholar, Garrett Guillen ’16 ILR, recently accepted a job in NYC at Harlem RBI, which works with inner city youth from East Harlem and the South Bronx.

The Class of ’74 is involved in two events this month. First is a tailgate party at Cornell Homecoming on Saturday, September 24 in Ithaca. This lunch is at 12:30pm in the parking lot near the Cornell Wrestling Center. No charge to attend, family members welcome. Look for the Class of 1974 banner. Classmate Roberta Bandel Walcer, rbwalcer@aol.com, is the organizer. No pre-registration required. (In case of inclement weather that day check the class Facebook page for any change of venue details.) Homecoming weekend festivities include fireworks and a family-friendly festival where you can meet a miniature companion horse named Miss Minnie, ride the ferris wheel, and sample varied foods and treats. The football game versus Yale is at 3pm. Homecoming details can be found here.

With the presidential election season in full swing, please consider participating in a live on-line chat with other Cornellians during the first Presidential debate on Monday, Sept. 26. Cornell grad Dave Ross, Class of ’73, a long-time Seattle-area radio talk show host, CBS Network commentator and two-time recipient of the Edward R. Murrow Award for best commentary, will moderate the Live Chat, which is open to classmates from 1971-74. No preregistration and no charge—the link will be provided a few days before the event. Number of participants is limited to 250. Thanks to the Class of 1973 for organizing this chat.

Looking ahead, we will have an informal class event in Baltimore the weekend of February 3-4. A number of classmates will be attending Cornell meetings in Baltimore over that weekend. Please let me know if you are interested.

I hope to see you at the Homecoming tailgate or at another class event soon.

Sincerely,

Dale Lazar
President [Notable] Class of ‘74
Dsl36@cornell.edu

Over the last 12 years Kristen and I have attended Cornell’s Commencement–not because we have children to cheer on, but because it is a day of great joy and even greater possibilities. This year, Commencement had a slightly different flavor. At 10:00am on a hot and sultry Sunday morning, more than 5000 undergrads and grads began marching into Schoellkopf. Then the heavens opened. In minutes, everyone—parents, faculty, students, trustees–was soaked to the skin. First time it’s rained on Cornell’s graduation in at least 25 years! But the show went on, students cheered when it was announced the program would be shortened, and by the end of the event the sun was back out.

A poignant moment occurred at the beginning of the ceremony when it was pointed out that the empty chair on stage was in memory of Cornell’s 13^th president Beth Garrett, who never had the opportunity to participate in one of Cornell’s signature events. Provost Michael Kotlikoff gave a memorable, thoughtful, optimistic commencement address about what makes a Cornell education special and how important it is to learn about and respect different points of view. He called Cornell “the most unpretentious, democratic and rigorous Ivy.” Read more here.

For those of us in the Notable Class of ’74, graduation day was particularly special. Our Class of ’74 scholar Garrett Guillen ’16 received his degree from ILR. We were introduced to Garrett in August 2012 upon his arrival in Ithaca from his home in Los Angeles. He had never been East and is the first person in his family to attend college. Over the next four years, Garrett navigated Cornell, succeeded both in and out of the classroom and, in his own words, had a “life changing experience.” Garrett’s parents made their first-ever trip to New York State and Ithaca for Commencement. We applaud Garrett for his courage and perseverance and wish him the best. As a class, we should all take a bow; the scholarship fund that Bob and Joan Saltsman Oelschlager ‘74 had the vision to start on behalf of our class, to which hundreds of classmates have made a contribution, is making a real difference in the lives of young people and our University.

Go Big Red!

Sincerely,

John Foote ‘74

jhf25@cornell.edu

It’s been an unusual winter in Ithaca—not much snow, and temperatures ranging from the single digits to the mid-50s. The only thing for sure is that the days are getting longer and the ice on Beebe Lake is mostly melted.

In January, the new Klarman Hall opened on the Arts Quad.  It is the first new humanities building on campus in more than 100 years—yes, you heard that right—and is located behind Goldwin Smith Hall.  This spectacular light-filled structure contains faculty offices, seminar rooms, an atrium, an auditorium, and the relocated Temple of Zeus.  You can access Klarman Hall from East Avenue or from Goldwin Smith.  Check out photos of Klarman Hall here.

Construction is underway in New York City at Cornell’s Tech Campus on Roosevelt Island, with the steel for the first building already in place.  Prior to tearing down the old Goldwater Hospital on the island, Cornell worked with art conservators to locate, remove and conserve several murals in the hospital that were commissioned during the 1930’s as part of President Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration (WPA.)  The WPA employed thousands of artists between 1935-45 to create public art.  The four artists chosen for the hospital project each painted a mural in the hospital’s public rooms. One mural had been uncovered in 2001, and two were discovered in 2013 under layers of hospital paint.  One mural was never found.  Over the past few years these murals have been cleaned and restored, and the mural panels are now on display at Cornell’s Johnson Museum of Art.  The murals will eventually be installed at the new Cornell Tech campus.  To learn more about this fascinating project, click here.   To see the murals, visit the Museum’s website here.

Our class correspondents need news in order to write the class column for Cornell Alumni Magazine!  If you have an update about yourself or a classmate–regarding retirement, a new job, a wedding, a class you are taking, a new or old hobby, travel, whatever—please send it to Jim Schoonmaker at js378@cornell.edu, Lucy Babcox Morris at lucmor1433@gmail.com, or Helen Bendix at hbendix@verizon.net.  Thank you!

Sincerely,

Dale Lazar

President [Notable] Class of ‘74

Dsl36@cornell.edu