List of presidents of Cornell University

Last updated

President of Cornell University
Martha E. Pollack in 2017.jpg
Incumbent
Martha E. Pollack
since April 17, 2017
AppointerCornell University Board of Trustees
Inaugural holder Andrew Dickson White
Formation1866
Website https://president.cornell.edu/about/
Cornell University's Arts Quad, with a statue of Andrew Dickson White, Cornell's first president, in the foreground. Cornell University arts quad.JPG
Cornell University's Arts Quad, with a statue of Andrew Dickson White, Cornell's first president, in the foreground.

The President of Cornell University is the chief administrator of Cornell University, an Ivy League institution in Ithaca, New York and New York City. Included in the list below are all Presidents of Cornell University, from the first President Andrew Dickson White through the current President, Martha E. Pollack. There have been 14 Presidents of Cornell University, not including three interregnum presidencies during university presidential transitions.

Contents

New York's only land-grant university, Cornell University was founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White and has its main campus in Ithaca, New York, as well as two newer satellite medical campuses in New York City and Qatar. Cornell joined the newly formed Ivy League in 1954 and is the only land-grant institution within it.

List of presidents

No.PresidentTerm of officeEducationNotes
1 Andrew Dickson White 1885.jpg Andrew Dickson White
(1832–1918)
[1]
1866 – 1885
(19 years)
White was the co-founder of Cornell University, along with Ezra Cornell, and introduced the bill in the New York State Senate establishing Cornell University. The bill was passed and became the university's charter. [2] White served on the faculty of the University of Michigan
2 Charles Kendall Adams.jpg Charles Kendall Adams
(1835–1902)
[3]
1885 – 1892
(7 years)
3 June 1925 photo, Bundesarchiv Bild 102-09830, Jacob Gould Schurman (cropped).jpg Jacob Gould Schurman
(1854–1942)
[4]
1892 – 1920
(28 years)
4 Portrait of Livingston Farrand.jpg Livingston Farrand
(1867–1939)
[5]
1921 – 1937
(16 years)
5 Edmund Ezra Day (1883-1951) in 1947.jpg Edmund Ezra Day
(1883–1951)
[6]
1937 – 1949
(12 years)
First dean of the University of Michigan's business school.
CornelisWDeKiewiet1952.jpg Cornelis de Kiewiet (interim)
(1902–1986)
[7]
1949 – 1951
(2 years)
6 Deane Waldo Malott
(1898–1996)
[8]
1951 – 1963
(12 years)
7 James Alfred Perkins
(1911–1998)
[9]
1963 – 1969
(6 years)
8 Dale R. Corson
(1914–2012)
[10] [11]
1969 – 1977
(8 years)
9 Frank H.T. Rhodes president of Cornell.jpg Frank H. T. Rhodes
(1926-2020)
[12]
1977 – 1995
(18 years)
10 Hunter R. Rawlings III
(born 1944)
[13]
1995 – 2003
(8 years)
11 Jeffrey S. Lehman
(born 1956)
[14]
2003 – 2005
(2 years)
Hunter R. Rawlings III (interregnum)
(born 1944)
2005 – 2006
(1 year)
  • B.A., Haverford College (1966)
  • Ph.D, Princeton University (1970)
12 Dr. David J. Skorton.jpg David J. Skorton
(born 1949)
[15] [16]
2006 – 2015
(9 years)
13 Elizabeth Garrett
(1963–2016)
[17]
2015 – 2016
(<1 year)
Garrett died in office in March 2016. [17]
Michael Kotlikoff

(acting)

2016

(2 months)

Acting President from February to April 2016 [18]
Hunter R. Rawlings III (interim)
(born 1944)
2016 – 2017
(1 year)
  • B.A., Haverford College (1966)
  • Ph.D, Princeton University (1970)
The Cornell University Board of Trustees appointed Rawlings as interim university president following the death of Elizabeth Garrett, effective April 2016. [19]
14 Martha E. Pollack in 2017.jpg Martha E. Pollack
(born 1958)
2017 – present

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Dickson White</span> American historian and politician (1832–1918)

Andrew Dickson White was an American historian and educator who co-founded Cornell University, one of eight Ivy League universities in the United States, and served as its first president for nearly two decades. He was known for expanding the scope of college curricula. A politician, he had served as New York state senator and was later appointed as U.S. ambassador to Germany and Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ezra Cornell</span> American businessman, founder of Western Union and Cornell University

Ezra Cornell was an American businessman, politician, academic, and philanthropist. He was the founder of Western Union and a co-founder of Cornell University. He also served as President of the New York Agriculture Society and as a New York State Senator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University</span> Agricultural college of Cornell University

The New York State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University is one of Cornell University's four statutory colleges, and is the only College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Ivy League. With enrollment of approximately 3,100 undergraduate and 1,000 graduate students, CALS is Cornell's second-largest undergraduate college and the third-largest college of its kind in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund Ezra Day</span> American educator

Edmund Ezra Day was an American educator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Garrett</span> American academic

Helen Elizabeth Garrett, commonly known as Elizabeth Garrett or Beth Garrett, was an American professor of law and academic administrator. On July 1, 2015, she became the 13th president of Cornell University—the first woman to serve as president of the university. She died from colon cancer on March 6, 2016, the first Cornell president to die while in office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter LaFeber</span> American historian (1933–2021)

Walter Fredrick LaFeber was an American academic who served as the Andrew H. and James S. Tisch Distinguished University Professor in the Department of History at Cornell University. Previous to that he served as the Marie Underhill Noll Professor of History and a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow at Cornell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Kendall Adams</span> American educator and historian

Charles Kendall Adams was an American educator and historian. He served as the second president of Cornell University from 1885 until 1892, and as president of the University of Wisconsin from 1892 until 1901. At Cornell he established a new law school, built a library, and appointed eminent research professors for the Ivy League school. At Wisconsin, he negotiated ever-increasing appropriations from the state legislature, especially for new buildings such as the library. He was the editor-in-chief of Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia (1892–1895), and of the successor Universal Cyclopaedia (1900), sometimes referred to as Appleton's Universal Cyclopaedia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quill and Dagger</span> Honor society at Cornell University

Quill and Dagger is a senior honor society at Cornell University. In 1929, The New York Times stated that election into Quill and Dagger and similar societies constituted "the highest non-scholastic honor within reach of undergraduates."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dale R. Corson</span> American physicist and academic administrator

Dale Raymond Corson was an American physicist and academic administrator who was the eighth president of Cornell University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry W. Sage</span> American businessman, philanthropist (1814–1897)

Henry Williams Sage was a wealthy New York State businessman, philanthropist, and early benefactor and trustee of Cornell University.

Hunter Ripley Rawlings III is an American classics scholar and academic administrator. He is best known for serving as the 17th President of the University of Iowa from 1987 until 1995 and as the 10th President of Cornell University from 1995 until 2003. He also served as Cornell's interim president in 2005–2006 and again from 2016–2017. Currently, Rawlings is Professor and University President Emeritus at the Department of Classics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank H. T. Rhodes</span> President of Cornell University

Frank Harold Trevor Rhodes was the ninth president of Cornell University from 1977 to 1995.

Cornelliana is anything related to Cornell University, an Ivy League university founded in 1865 in Ithaca, New York. The university has a considerable number of traditions, legends, and lore unique to the university that have developed over its existence, which spans over 150 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Cornell University</span> History of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York

The history of Cornell University begins when its two founders, Andrew Dickson White of Syracuse and Ezra Cornell of Ithaca, met in the New York State Senate in January 1864. Together, they established Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, in 1865. The university was initially funded by Ezra Cornell's $400,000 endowment and by New York's 989,920-acre (4,006.1 km2) allotment of the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David J. Skorton</span> American physician and academic

David Jan Skorton is an American physician and academic. He has been president and chief executive officer of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) since July 15, 2019. Prior to the AAMC, he led the Smithsonian Institution, as its 13th Secretary from July 2015 to June 2019. A cardiologist, he was president of Cornell University from 2006 to 2015. Before arriving at Cornell, he served as president of the University of Iowa, where he had been a longtime professor and then vice president. He began his career as a professor of medicine and engineering. He was the first physician to serve as president of the Smithsonian Institution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornell University</span> Private university in Ithaca, New York

Cornell University is a private Ivy League land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. The university was founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White. Since its founding, Cornell has been a co-educational and nonsectarian institution. As of fall 2023, the student body included over 16,000 undergraduate and 10,000 graduate students from all 50 U.S. states and 130 countries.

The Cornell University Department of History is an academic department in the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell University that focuses on the study of history. Founded in 1868, it is one of Cornell's original departments and has been a center for the development of professional historical research institutions in the United States, including the American Historical Association and the American Historical Review. It remains a highly-ranked program in the field and its alumni and faculty have won Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes, among other distinctions. In addition, many of Cornell's presidents have served among its ranks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sage Chapel</span> Non-denominational chapel on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, US

Sage Chapel is the non-denominational chapel on the campus of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York State which serves as the burial ground for many contributors to Cornell's history, including the founders of the university: Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White as well as their wives. The building was gifted to the university by Henry William Sage and his wife. The chapel opened in 1875 and is located on Ho Plaza, across from Willard Straight Hall and next to John M. Olin Library, John McGraw Tower, and Barnes Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornell Central Campus</span>

Central Campus is the primary academic and administrative section of Cornell University's Ithaca, New York campus. It is bounded by Libe Slope on the west, Fall Creek on the north, and Cascadilla Creek on the South.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of Ezra Cornell</span> Statue at Cornell University

Ezra Cornell is a monumental statue in Ithaca, New York, United States. Located on the Arts Quad of the Cornell Central Campus, the monument honors Ezra Cornell, the co-founder and namesake of Cornell University. The statue, designed by Hermon Atkins MacNeil, was dedicated in 1919.

References

  1. "Andrew Dickson White, President, 1866-1885". Cornell University Library. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  2. "Andrew Dickson White". Cornell University Office of the President. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  3. "Charles Kendall Adams, President, 1885-1892". Cornell University Library. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  4. "Jacob Gould Schurman, President, 1892-1920". Cornell University Library. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  5. "Livingston Farrand, President, 1921-1937". Cornell University Library. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  6. "Edmund Ezra Day, President, 1937-1949". Cornell University Library. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  7. "Guide to the Cornelius W. De Kliewiet Papers, 1949-1951". Cornell University Library. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  8. "Deane Waldo Malott, President, 1951-1963". Cornell University Library. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  9. "James Alfred Perkins, President, 1963-1969". Cornell University Library. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  10. "Dale Raymond Corson, President, 1969-1977". Cornell University Library. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  11. Vitello, Paul (5 April 2012). "Dale Corson, Cornell Administrator Who Helped Quell Protest, Dies at 97". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  12. "Frank Howard Trevor Rhodes, President, 1977-1995". Cornell University Library. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  13. "Hunter Ripley Rawlings III, President, 1995-2003". Cornell University Library. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  14. "Jeffrey Sean Lehman, President, 2003-2005". Cornell University Library. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  15. "David J. Skorton, 2006". Cornell University Library. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  16. "Cornell's Skorton Will Step Down to Head the Smithsonian". Bloomberg. 10 March 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  17. 1 2 Slotnik, Daniel E. (7 March 2016). "Elizabeth Garrett, First Female President of Cornell, Dies at 52". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 October 2016.
  18. "Provost Michael Kotlikoff to Serve as Acting President While Garrett Undergoes Treatment - The Cornell Daily Sun". cornellsun.com. 22 February 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
  19. Walters, Karen (24 March 2016). "Hunter Rawlings to take helm as interim president April 25". Cornell Chronicle. Retrieved 22 October 2016.