COVER STORY
Cornell Board of Trustees Chair Robert Harrison
A new health center for a new generation
Recognizing what he and the administration have identified as an urgent need to transform and expand the university's campus health center, Cornell Board of Trustees Chair Robert S. Harrison '76 and his wife, Jane, have stepped forward to make a lead gift of $5 million toward the effort.
"I have always believed that protecting the health and safety of our students must be priority No. 1 for the board of trustees and the administration," says Harrison, who is also CEO of the Clinton Global Initiative. "We should be especially proud that Cornell has achieved a national reputation as the gold standard in university health care."
However, in recent years, student population growth and an increased demand for services placed significant pressures on the building and Cornell's health services staff. "By transforming the Gannett Health Services facility through expansion and redesign, we can continue to offer top-notch medical, mental and public health services to future generations of Cornell students," Harrison says.
His gift follows last spring's approval by the board of the first phase of design for the center's renewal and expansion. The $55 million renovation project, slated to be completed in fall 2017, will add 58,000 square feet. Two-thirds of the funding is in place, but the remainder must be raised through philanthropy. The original facility was built in 1956, funded in part by the Gannett Foundation, a legacy of newspaper publisher Frank E. Gannett, Class of 1898.