WORTH SUPPORTING
Bob Harrison endows Bethe House deanship in Dale Corson's name
Dale R. Corson, who served as Cornell's eighth president from 1969 to 1977. See larger image
As CEO of the Clinton Global Initiative, Robert Harrison '76 knows a thing or two about presidents, and he has used a recent gift to honor one of Cornell's.
Harrison recently committed $2 million to name the post of house professor-dean of Hans Bethe House for Dale R. Corson, the friend and protégé of Bethe who served as Cornell's eighth president from 1969 to 1977.
The gift is the first to endow one of the five house professorships in the West Campus House System. Porus Olpadwala, the house professor-dean of Bethe House since it opened in 2007, will be the first to hold the title of Dale R. Corson House Professor-Dean.
"This gift is a milestone for us with West Campus fundraising for a number of reasons," said Susan Murphy, vice president for student and academic services. "To have any position endowed, and certainly that first one, is most significant. Having it done by a trustee who understands the student life experience … I think that sends a very strong signal as well. And then to have it in honor of Dale Corson … is just fabulous."
Robert Harrison '76
Harrison, who was a student trustee and speaker of the now-defunct University Senate when he was an undergraduate, said those roles enabled him to get to know Corson, whom he described as "the model university president."
"I learned a tremendous amount about how large, complicated institutions are run from Dale Corson," said Harrison. "He was able to muster support for important initiatives and … balance the interests of different constituencies extremely well. And there were some difficult issues at that time."
Corson served as president in the aftermath of the 1969 Willard Straight takeover and led the university through the final years of the Vietnam War and the economic stagnation of the 1970s. He is held in high esteem by many Cornellians for bringing stability to Cornell and returning research, teaching and scholarship to the forefront of the university experience.
Porus Olpadwala
A former chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees' Committee on Student Life and current chair of its Executive Committee, Harrison said he wanted to make a strong statement about the importance of the West Campus House System and its impact on the undergraduate experience at Cornell.
"I believe it's a transformational event for Cornell to have invested in the new housing on West Campus and the concept of these houses being living-learning environments," said Harrison.
Olpadwala said he felt "very lucky" to be in a post named for Corson.
"I admire him professionally and personally. He has the capacity to make people work together," said Olpadwala. "He's been my role model for an academician."