Cornell Board of Trustees Chairman Emeritus Harold Tanner '52 has made a significant financial commitment to the West Campus residential undergraduate experience in honor of former Cornell President Hunter Rawlings.

Tanner's commitment supports the West Campus general program endowment, in particular the 87 house fellows, primarily faculty members, currently affiliated with Alice Cook, Carl Becker and Hans Bethe houses. Henceforth they will be known as Hunter R. Rawlings III House Fellows.

"I think that West Campus is an exceptionally important initiative for Cornell," Tanner said. "Hunter was the guiding force behind [the residential initiative], and I wanted to make sure he was recognized."

The West Campus Residential Initiative promotes a living-and-learning environment, with about 370 students in each house benefiting from a live-in house professor and dean, and interaction with 30 affiliated house fellows -- most of them faculty, staff and administrators. President David Skorton and his wife, Professor Robin Davisson, are fellows at Becker House, and Provost Biddy Martin and Deputy Provost David Harris are affiliated with Bethe House.

House fellows provide intellectual stimulation outside of the classroom by expanding students' exposure to research and educational and cultural opportunities, through formal programming, mentoring and casual discussions. Fellows also attend weekly house dinners with students. Currently, there are 31 house fellows listed at Cook House, and 28 each at Bethe and Becker.

House-based activities include seminars, guest speakers, performances, film screenings, discussion groups, advising and career-counseling services and themed programs and social events. Programming is intended to be diverse and to respond to student interests.

"[It] is a highly creative initiative that has changed the dynamic of residential housing at Cornell," Tanner said. "The living-learning opportunities on West Campus provide a breadth of activities that Cornell didn't previously have."

Rawlings, a professor of classics and president of the university in 1995-2003 and 2005-06, is a fellow at Cook House, the first of the five West Campus residences to be completed. Tanner was chair of the Cornell Board of Trustees from 1997 to 2002 and vice chair from 1992-97. During these years the residential initiative took shape on North Campus (creating a community for first-year students) and West Campus.

"To call [Rawlings and Tanner] essential and principal in seeing this project through, and convincing all the various Cornell constituencies to get on board with it, would be an understatement," said Cook House Professor and Dean Ross Brann, who has invited Tanner to visit Cornell March 1-2 and meet with students at Cook House.

The West Campus house system will encompass five residences when completed in 2009. William Keeton House and a fifth, as yet unnamed, house are under construction and scheduled for completion in 2008, and will be fully programmed by 2009.

There will be approximately 120 house fellows after Keeton House opens, Brann said, adding, "It's a sign of the commitment that the faculty have made to enhance undergraduate education through the West Campus house system."