RED Talks Emcee John Foote, just back from a Cornell Reunion, let’s us know that a much requested RED Talk is coming soon

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I just returned from Reunion 2026—beautiful weather and, even though it wasn’t our reunion, it was a great weekend. Check out the Hangovers in concert in Sage Chapel on Saturday.
 
A couple months ago we told you about a civic leadership course recently offered for the first time on campus, to help students “find purpose” in their college experience and their lives after Cornell.  Called “Pathways to Purpose”, this class was born out of the belief that Cornell can do a better job preparing our students to participate in a meaningful way in private and public entities, schools, communities, companies and more.
 

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Many of you responded positively to this idea so we decided to provide the opportunity to “go deeper” into the topic of purpose.  We reached out to one of the designers of the course, Tony Burrow, who wears a number of hats at Cornell: the Ferris Family Associate Professor of Life Course Studies in the Department of Psychology; director of the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research; and senior associate dean for outreach and extension in HumEc.  
 
Tony is an expert on purpose; his research  is centered on why having a sense of self-direction – or purpose in life – serves as a psychological resource for those who cultivate it: “I conduct studies testing the extent to which purpose (a) contributes to positive adjustment and (b) serves as a source of protection in the face of stress and challenge.”
 
On Tuesday, June 23rd at 8pm EDT, Tony will join us for our next RED Talk webinar and talk about purpose and happiness. While much of Tony’s work is focused on Gen Z, there is plenty for us Baby Boomers to learn.
Hope you can be with us for what is sure to be an enlightening hour.

A Look Back at Our Time on the Hill

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Join Cornell University’s de facto historian Corey Ryan Earle ’07 for an encore presentation of his lecture from our 50th Reunion in June. Take a walk down memory lane as we reminisce about the events and experiences of our undergraduate years, reflecting on what’s changed and what’s stayed the same.

Zoom Webinar

Wednesday, February 12, 2025

8:00 pm ET

Registration details to follow

Countdown to Our 50th Reunion–Arrival Information

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Our 50th Reunion is finally here!  If you are still on the fence about attending, it’s not too late.  Come for a day or the entire weekend!  Register here.  To participate virtually, check out the links on our Class website.

I am looking forward to seeing many of you later this week!  Our Reunion Committee has put together a full, fun and fabulous weekend.  So get ready to relive old memories and make new ones!

If your primary registration is with our Class of 1974, please check in at our Class of ’74 Headquarters at Ruth Bader Ginsburg (RBG) Hall at 155 Program House Drive on North Campus. (Please note:  if your primary registration is with CBAA, you must check in at CBAA Headquarters in Ujamaa.  Check here for all CBAA arrival details and other information.)

Here is a great arrival map to get you to RBG.  The address for your GPS is 224 Cradit Farm Drive, Ithaca, NY 14850 but when you get to North Campus go to Jessup Road and follow these directions and red arrows to RBG drop off.  There our student clerks will take your luggage (if you are staying on campus).  Then, follow the red arrows to A Lot to park and take the shuttle or walk back (10-12 minutes) to RBG to check in.  There you will get a Welcome Book (full of lots of information), your Reunion “Button” that allows you access to all reunion events for the weekend, and your room key if you are staying in the dorm.  Consider our class headquarters as your home base for the weekend.

Please read this short schedule of weekend events and an At A Glance schedule/map.  Visit our class website’s 50th Reunion Details page.

We are delighted that so many of you are first time reunioners (if that’s even a word), and many have not been back to campus in 50 years.  That can be daunting.  Don’t worry!  Just get yourself to RBG and we will have plenty of reunion pros (look for classmates wearing a Class of 1974 pin) to help you navigate the weekend and have a wonderful time.

Safe travel and see you soon!

Freedom of Expression, Freshman Swim Test and More

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Hope you have been having a good summer.

Students attend the first day of classes of the fall semester on Monday, August 21, 2023. (Ryan Young / Cornell University)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the current group of Cornellians (26,000 students–16,000 undergrads and 10,000 grads–the U has grown a bit) summer is over.  Classes started two weeks ago and the campus has come alive.  There is something very special about this time of year at Cornell–all things seem to be possible.  This academic year has been declared the year of “Freedom of Expression at Cornell—The Indispensable Condition”;  the entire Cornell Community will engage in activities designed to build understanding and foster discussion around the freedoms on which higher education, and democracy, depend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When we first stepped on campus in 1970, there was no shortage of freedom of expression.  We also faced the Swim Test–a Cornell tradition dating back to 1905 that continues to this day.  The Cornell Daily Sun ran a fun piece about the 118 year old history of our swim test.  Into the pool!

Finally,

We are now in our 50th Reunion year and planning is kicking into high gear.  Our class headquarters for the reunion will be Ruth Bader Ginsburg Hall.  “RBG” is one of the new North Campus dorms and it will be a great place to celebrate our 50th.

    • In celebration of our 50th, we continue to want volunteers willing to reach out to Cornell friends–freshman dorm mates, team mates, class mates.  This Affinity effort is being chaired by Mary “Mi” O’Connell and Diane “Kope” VerSchure.  Email them if you can help.
    • Don’t forget to send me your favorite tunes from your time on the Hill so that they make it into the 1974 notable playlist.
    • We are putting together a memory book for our 50th.  Stay tuned this fall for information on this fun project.

And if you are thinking about coming back for Homecoming September 29-30, we will have a pre-game Class of ’74 Tailgate.  Classmate Walter Scott will be manning the grill again for lunch from 11:00 am-1:30 pm.  Look for the Class of ’74 sign and Walt’s Big Red van.

Have a great Fall!

Bringing Spring Semester to a Close

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This was Cornell’s last week of classes, all of which have been online since early April.   I teach a graduate level course in infrastructure policy in Cornell’s College of Human Ecology and speaking as someone who has never taught online, the last two months have been a real eye opener. I have come to realize what an enormous privilege it is to be a student at a residential college with constant in-person interaction with fellow students and faculty.  This is what all of us in the Class of 1974 experienced as undergrads.  Now, Cornell students, like students all over the world, have been deprived of this extraordinary opportunity because of the pandemic.

Kristen and I have been hunkered down at our home in Boston since mid-March, but we made a trip to Ithaca this week. Walking around campus as the first signs of spring are showing (it has been a late spring here, with snow (!?!) a few days ago) one feels the absence of the essential energy that makes the Hill the vibrant, stimulating place we all remember.  Whether that energy, in the form of 20,000 students, returns this Fall is now under intensive study by the University. Does Cornell bring back all students, some students, or no students in person?  We should know the answer by late June.

In the meantime, Cornellians’ creativity and passions are finding outlets that remind us why our Alma Mater is special.  Watch and listen to:

  • The Cornell Alma Mater performed virtually by members of the CU Wind Symphony (check out the students’ majors at the end—Any Person, Any Study….)
  • Cornell Chimes End-of-Year Concert earlier this week featuring two students working the chimes’ hand and foot pedals atop McGraw Tower and sending music across campus as dusk settles (check out the campus views).

Stay safe and healthy,

Almost Spring, Giving Day, Summer Classes

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Happy almost-spring!  Winter is winding down in Ithaca and students are looking forward to spring break in just two weeks.  There’s still a bit of snow left on the Cornell campus—check out the live camera feed here. 

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Our 45th Reunion is just three months away.  We hope you will join the hundreds of classmates planning to be in Ithaca June 6-9.  You can participate now in our 45thReunion activities by reaching out to classmates, dorm-mates, teammates, fraternity brothers or sorority sisters, undergrad work friends—anyone you knew at Cornell with whom you’d like to reconnect.  If you’ve lost touch and can’t find someone, we can help–just let us know whom you’d like to reach.

TODAY is Cornell Giving Day which is another way you can be involved in our 45thReunion.  You can make a donation of ANY amount, to ANY area of Cornell, and it will count toward our Reunion fundraising goal.  It’s easy and fun (in fact, we made our gift this morning.) Please help our class reach our goal of 1000 donors by making your gift today!  If you’d like to give to our Class of 1974 scholarship, click here or just go to the general Giving Day website and type, under “Other,” “Class of 1974 Scholarship, Fund #012825.”  Our class scholarship money is put to good use.  Read about our current class scholar here.

Looking ahead, why not think about taking a one-week Cornell Adult University course on campus this summer?  Classes run July 7-August 3 and offerings range from history to birdwatching to biking to gourmet cooking to social justice to climate change to golf to beer-making to Latin dance to literature to kayaking to wines to humor to literature. Bring friends, kids, grandkids.  Ithaca is at its best in mid-summer. Visitwww.cau.cornell.edu for details.

Hope to see you in June! 

Cornell in Space and in Boston

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Did you know that a team from Cornell’s Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science is heavily engaged with NASA’s space program?  The Cornell-NASA connection began with the late Carl Sagan and is carried on today by Steve Squyres, Professor of Physical Science at Cornell who studied under Sagan.  Squyres is Principal Investigator on the NASA Mars Rover project which began with the 2004 landing of the Opportunity and Spirit rovers on Mars.  Expected to travel just 1000 yards before expiring in 90 days, both rovers far exceeded those goals.  Spirit eventually lost all power in 2010; however Opportunity traveled 28 miles and survived 14 years before being caught in a massive Martian dust storm last June and falling silent. And although NASA still sends daily communication to Opportunity, experts anticipate that this month—February–will mark the end of Opportunity’s remarkable story.  Read more herein this recent NY Times article. 

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Looking ahead—way ahead–Professor Squyres and Cornell colleagues are part of a finalist team for a billion dollar NASA mission to Jupiter’s moons and comets.  This mission will launch in 2025 and samples will arrive back on Earth in 2038!  Learn more here. 

Back here on Earth, our Notable Class of 1974 is hosting an informal gathering in Boston this coming Saturday, February 9 at 6:30 pm at The Summer Shack, 50 Dalton Street, Boston.  The Class will provide hors d’oeuvres and we’ll have a cash bar.  No RSVP needed—just show up!

Our 45th Reunion is just four months away!  You should have received a large postcard last month with Reunion info.  In late March you will receive a registration packet with details on Reunion activities and events.  Reach out now to friends to encourage them to attend.   I hope you will join us in June!

Why we give to Cornell…

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Class of 1974 Class Scholarship winner sends this beautiful letter of gratitude. Read it here and learn more about Garret Guillen and our Class Scholarship.

Academic Year 2015 — 2016
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Oelschlager and the entire Class of 1974,
As I approach my final semester at Cornell University I realize that there is no way I could have adequately expressed appreciation when I first received your gift that allowed me to enter this amazing campus over 3 years ago. I still remember having the discussion with my parents, after the initial elation of being admitted, about whether or not attending this renowned institution was financially feasible. After receiving aid coupled with scholarship funds from your donations I’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy every minute of my time at Cornell. Reflecting on all the experiences, the people, the classes, the campus, and all other aspects of the Cornell community I realize that it is time so valuable I couldn’t have known its worth as an incoming freshman and time that I hope to provide for another incoming freshman someday. As my brother goes through his freshman year at Cornell I try and explain to him the unique significance that his time at school will offer him because I am so excited that someone so close to me now has the same opportunity that I have enjoyed so greatly. Yet I experience difficulty trying to express my immense appreciation of my Cornell experience to him as I realize that his experience will also be unique and that he must find it on his own. I experience the same difficulty while trying to express my immeasurable gratitude to you and your colleagues who have made this experience possible for me. I now realize in my closing year that you have all sought to provide a student with such an incredible education because you all have received a similarly valuable gift in all of your own unique experiences at Cornell; and I now also carry that desire to share our Cornell community with others in need. I would like to thank you all again for allowing me to become a part of this amazing campus for the past 3 years; and I want to express my desire to continue to share this Cornell experience long past graduation.
With gratitude,
Garrett Guillen
Gmg83@cornell.edu

 

New College of Business

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President Garrett and Provost Michael Kotlikoff announced in December a proposal to create a new College of Business at Cornell.  This College would include the current Johnson Graduate School of Management, the undergraduate business program (called “Ag Ec” in our day, now called “Applied Economics and Management (AEM)”) which is now in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the School of Hotel Administration.  To learn more about this proposal, which would require a change in the university by-laws, you may want to read both the official university announcement here and the Cornell Daily Sun articles and comments here.

Zinck’s Night-Thursday, Oct. 15

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All Cornell alumni, parents, and friends are invited to celebrate the long standing tradition of Zinck’s Night! Join in the fun at an event near you!  Almost 50 events are planned around the globe:  two in DC alone.