From The President
from the president
Martha E. Pollack, President, Cornell University. See larger image
This issue of Ezra is reaching you shortly after I have become president of Cornell University. Since being selected as Cornell's 14th president last fall, I've wrapped up my work at the University of Michigan, and my husband, Ken Gottschlich, and I are excited to begin a new adventure at Cornell. We thank you for the warm welcome we have already received.
Cornell's spirit of innovation – evidenced by its faculty, students, staff and alumni – has earned it a national and international reputation for excellence and is driving the university's leadership among institutions of higher education in the 21st century. I am honored, humbled and thrilled to be Cornell's new president and energized by the possibilities that lie ahead.
Over the next few months, I will be immersing myself in every aspect of Cornell's mission. I briefly visited the Ithaca campus, Weill Cornell Medicine and Cornell Tech as president-elect, and I am eager to learn more about the university's impact in Ithaca, New York City, New York state, across the country and around the world. I also look forward to connecting with the university's diverse and global alumni community, whose passion for Cornell is second to none. From the alumni I've met and the letters and emails I have received from others – including colleagues and acquaintances whom I hadn't realized were Cornellians – I've already seen some of that passion firsthand.
With this issue of Ezra, I am learning, along with you, about Cornell's expansive footprint in New York City, exploring the culture and interconnected ecosystem of entrepreneurship throughout Cornell, and meeting some of our recently hired, collaborative faculty members. It is an insightful, colorful and perceptive tour, and a taste of the excitement I'm finding throughout the university every day.
As I continue to learn from all of you, I am confident that together we will craft a vision for Cornell that builds on the university's areas of strength, extends our academic excellence, ensures our diversity and inclusivity, and shapes our future as "One Cornell."
Martha E. Pollack
President, Cornell University