ESSENTIALS
THE ESSENTIALS
RIP Ithaca; 1972-2009
Friends, family, ornithologists and bird lovers across the country are mourning the passing of a golden eagle named Ithaca.
The eagle, who hatched at Cornell on May 13, 1972, was the second of three eagle chicks bred through artificial insemination by then Cornell graduate student Jim Grier. Grier, Ph.D. '75, and his wife, Joyce, raised Ithaca at home with their own children. The bird of prey became a celebrity of sorts, appearing on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show" in 1977 and a host of news features afterward. Grier, who joined the North Dakota State University faculty in 1973, frequently brought Ithaca to classes and presentations there.
Ithaca contracted West Nile virus in 2002, and he was euthanized this past September due to complications of that illness.
"It is sad that ... he died so young (only 37 years old -- he otherwise probably would have lived many more years and I expected that he would outlive me)," Grier wrote on his Web site.
Following the news of the death of Ithaca, a Native American name was bestowed on Grier by an Oklahoma group of Numu (Comanche) Native Americans. "The name they conferred on me is 'Queeni Phuakat,' pronounced with accents on the capital letters, 'Kwee-Nigh poo-Ha-Cot,'" Grier says. "The name essentially means 'he who carries eagle medicine/power/knowledge' or 'he who understands and cares for eagles.'"
Romeo + Juliet wuz here
Graffiti is an integral -- and authentic -- part of the set for "Romeo and Juliet" at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. It was scrawled by area high school and Cornell students, who were invited to leave their mark on the set, said Kent Goetz, professor of theatre, film and dance and scenic designer.
Although the production (in the Kiplinger Theatre, through Dec. 5) is being staged as Shakespeare wrote it, its setting is a contemporary, urban construction site.
"What's left is an open space in which the youth of the rival families hang out," Goetz said. "Naturally the inhabitants quickly fill the surfaces with graffiti art and tagging (signatures) as an expression of their affiliation and individual pride."
First, Goetz met with local graffiti artist Jay Stooks to envision a graffiti mural as the base painting for an 8-by-40-foot plywood construction wall on the set. Members of the Ithaca High School Graffiti Club added their designs to the wall under the direction of art teacher Jocelyn Lutter Carver, and Cornell students participated in an Open Tagging Party on the stage where the entire set was available as a surface. Later, the cast added its designs.
50 trees greener
Cornell just got greener. Fifty trees were planted Oct. 22 near and on the Arts Quad, Libe Slope and near Schoellkopf Stadium, a gift from the Arbor Day Foundation and Toyota as part of the one-year anniversary to celebrate the foundation's Tree Campus USA program.
Cornell was recently recognized as one of only 13 schools -- and the first Ivy League school -- by the Arbor Day Foundation's Tree Campus USA program for practicing sound campus forestry for 2009. The Tree Campus USA program teamed up with about 25 Cornell student volunteers to plant the trees, primarily various oaks, maples and pines.
The event was part of Cornell's Campus Sustainability Day, during which 15 student groups and Cornell departments conducted outreach on Ho Plaza.
Ezra lived here
When alumni of the Sigma Phi Society's Epsilon Chapter gathered Sept. 10-13 to celebrate the restoration of their 75-year-old West Campus home at 1 Forest Park Lane, they also paid formal tribute to Ezra Cornell with a plaque marking the site of the university founder's original homestead.
The fraternity house is thought to sit on a piece of the land that Ezra Cornell called home -- and that he gave to establish the university almost 150 years ago. A stone wall behind the fraternity's basement social room, which contains "blocker tie rings" for tying horses or cattle, is believed to be from Cornell's original barn.
Cornell's great-great-great-grandson Ezra Cornell '70 wrote a letter to the fraternity members expressing his appreciation for the gesture.
"Until this weekend there were only two obvious places on campus that paid formal tribute to the Founder: the statue on the Arts Quad and the crypt at Sage Chapel. Your plaque on the entry to 1 Forest Park Lane identifies the Founder and the historic site from which the first truly American University was born," Cornell wrote.
"What was originally created, and what we work hard to sustain, is a university based on the fundamentals of liberty. … I think it is historically significant that the Epsilon was located over the lands where the Founder labored, and that for 75 years the society has labored on the very same spot and played an increasing role in strengthening what is great about the University."
During the event the fraternity also presented 13 newly designed banners to Cornell, including one representing Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. The banners hang in Willard Straight Hall's Memorial Room.
To see a short video about history of Cornell University Sigma Phi society go to the the Multimedia Page
Those beautiful ovaries
The ovaries of your average fruit fly are many things. Functional, for example. Complex. Very small. And vital for species survival.
But beautiful?
Well, judge for yourself. Graduate student Heather Flores' photos of fruit fly ovaries won the NYSTEM Stem Cell Awareness Day Image Contest, announced by N.Y. Gov. David Paterson on Stem Cell Awareness Day, Sept 23.
The images will be included in a 2010 calendar that demonstrates the visual beauty of stem cell science. The calendar is available for downloading at stemcell.ny.gov/about_stem_cell_awareness.html.
"I always enjoy taking images of ovaries because they are very aesthetically pleasing to me," said Flores. "I often find myself taking extra pictures just because they look nice and not necessarily because they will aid in my data collection."
Alumni: Take note(s)
RefWorks is one of the most popular citation management tools online, and Cornell Library has now made it available to alumni.
Through RefWorks' new plan to allow alumni to use its service, members of the Cornell community now have access to their accounts as long as the library is a subscriber. Researchers at all levels, from undergraduates to postdoctorates, use RefWorks to gather sources, manage research information, create bibliographies and build personal databases. The newly expanded access allows them to keep those databases for all their research endeavors after they leave Cornell.
Check out the library's RefWorks site at refworks.cornell.edu, Ask a Librarian (www.library.cornell.edu/ask) or e-mail citemanage-l@cornell.edu for more information about alumni access.