Momentous Times–Now and Then
Well, big things have been going on Far Above over the last couple of weeks:
- President Martha Pollack announced her retirement effective June 30 of this year; Provost Mike Kotlikoff will be assuming the presidency through June 2025 and John Siliciano (Cornell ’75) will be Acting Provost.
- The encampment on the Arts Quad was closed peacefully.
- Thousands of students jammed on Slope Day under blue skies.
- The University is preparing for its 156 Commencement this coming Saturday. Nowadays, to accommodate all graduates, two separate but identical graduation ceremonies are held on Commencement Day, at 10am and 2:30pm.
Of course there are always things going on on campus! If your memory is a bit hazy about events from our years, tune in, in person or via Zoom, to Corey Earle’s talk called A Look Back at the Notable Class of 74’s Time on the Hill, on Thursday night of Reunion, June 6 at 8:00pm EDT. If you can’t be in Ithaca, click here for Zoom instructions.
Friday night of Reunion, June 7, WVBR 93.5FM will be broadcasting around the world from our Headquarters at Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall. Again, if you can’t be there in person, join remotely at https://www.wvbr.com/live. (Note: VBR still features Rockin’ Remnants and Bound for Glory—some things don’t change….)
Ribbon cutting ceremony–WVBR back in Collegetown at new headquarters on Buffalo Street–May 2014
Finally, there is still time to register for Reunion and to make a gift to Cornell to commemorate our 50th.
The Sun, The Moon and Our 50th Reunion
Cornell is back in session after “Spring” Break (which weather-wise felt like it was in January). But the campus is beginning to show some spring color and you can feel the students’ sense of purpose to get things finished up in a short five weeks.
Looming academic deadlines did not stop everyone on campus from pausing for a couple of hours to witness the eclipse which was 98.8% totality in Tompkins County, albeit with cloud cover. The last total eclipse in Ithaca, in 1925, was captured in this oil painting by Louis Agassiz Fuertes, Class of 1897. Our Cornell Observatory, where we will be stargazing at Reunion, is named for Fuertes. You can see this painting on Reunion weekend in Cornell’s Kroc Library.
While we did not have an eclipse during our time on the Hill, there were equally momentous occasions that we will celebrate at Reunion on June 6-9.
Registration for Class of ’74 events and housing is now open—just click here to register.
Plan on coming Thursday for a premier showing of a new movie with deep Cornell roots, The Artist & the Astronaut, (4:00pm Thursday), followed by a festival with food trucks, music, etc. on the Quad next to our headquarters in the new Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall (you are going to like the rooms, coffee shop, etc.). Thursday night also features Cornell historian, Corey Earle ’07, giving a retrospective of Cornell in the early 1970’s (to jog our memories!).
Reunion enthusiasm is running high, so get your registration in (and send me your favorite 70’s song to be included in our Reunion playlist).
We are looking forward to seeing you in June!
Sharing & Creating Memories–Participate in our Class of ’74 Memory Book
To commemorate and celebrate our years at Cornell and the 50 years since, we are creating Cornell Class of ’74 Memory Book. Whether you are joining our 50th Reunion in Ithaca, June 6-9, or just joining in spirit, we invite you to share your memories and your life experiences with our classmates.
Our Class of ’74 has engaged a platform, BrightCrowd, which has worked with other universities and Cornell classes during reunions to create these books of memories. BrightCrowd helps classes make wonderful, and secure, memory books.
Each classmate has been invited to make their own page for this memory book. You can share as much, or as little, as you like about yourself, your life, your family, your Cornell memories. It’s very easy, flexible and fun and a great way to reconnect and connect with classmates. You can upload fun old and new photos. You can continue to work on your page until well after our Reunion in June because you will surely be making new memories and new friends that weekend!
Your invitation to participate in this book will comes via email. If you haven’t received one that means we don’t have a good email for you. Please contact one of us with a working email and we will get you your invitation.
Your invitations will comes with detailed instructions. But feel free to send any one of us your questions and we will do our best to answer questions as quickly as possible.
We look forward to seeing you in the Cornell ’74 Memory Book and at our 50th Reunion in Ithaca, June 6-9, 2024.
Marleen Kay Davis, Memory Book Co-Chair, mkdavis@utk.edu
Diane “Kope” Verschure, Memory Book Co-Chair, diane.verschure@gmail.com
Shelley Cosgrove DeFord, Class President, scdeford@gmail.com