While acknowledging the tragedies and challenges of the past year, the "intergenerational community" of Cornell has much to celebrate, President David Skorton told alumni in his June 12 State of the University address during Reunion Weekend.

Skorton reminded the 1,000 or so alumni who packed Bailey Hall that being "One Cornell" means a shared pride in Cornell's current excellence and looking forward together with "resolve and optimism."

Among such efforts to shape the university's future, he said, is the new Cornell Faculty Renewal Fund, which will aim to make available $100 million to hire additional faculty. Over the next five years, he said, the university intends to raise half that amount ($10 million per year) through philanthropy and to match the amount with another $50 million from internal university sources.

"We are at a moment of profound opportunity -- with extraordinary talent available across the world at all ranks and the best market for faculty hiring in decades, with our peer institutions, our competitors, hiring at a quarter to a half the normal pace. Acting now to replenish our faculty will give us a comparative strategic advantage if we seize the opportunity as a Cornell family," Skorton said.

The past year has not been without challenge, even tragedy -- the loss of several students and others to accidents, disease and suicide. Skorton explained that the temporary barriers on campus bridges were erected as "deterrents to impulsive behavior after a cluster of student suicides." He thanked "our wonderfully strong, bright, forward-looking and optimistic" Cornell students who "showed me the way forward" during these difficult times.

This year has also required efforts to cope with the challenges of the dramatic economic downturn, he said, which has resulted in various initiatives at Cornell, including streamlining administration, reallocating resources and setting strategic direction.

"This year produced emotional highs and lows, because the status quo is really not an option, and change is difficult in any institution, from a small family to a complicated university," he said.

The successes, however, were many, Skorton said: faculty honors including a Guggenheim fellow, national book award finalist and nominee for a Grammy Award. Funds awarded to faculty through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act total nearly $150 million so far, preserving or creating 335 full-time equivalent jobs while funding groundbreaking research.

Exceptional students, as always, have also dotted the past year's landscape: from the Johnson School team taking first place at the IdeaCorps Challenge in New Orleans, to the 100 mpg car team, competing this month for a share of the $10 million Progressive Automotive X Prize.

"And how about Big Red athletics?!" Skorton said to applause. A first-ever Sweet 16 appearance by the Cornell men's basketball team and a second-place national finish by the women's hockey team were just a few of many athletic accomplishments this year, he said.

Skorton emphasized the university's continued commitment to need-blind admissions and need-based student aid, which has helped select a diverse and accomplished incoming freshman class.

And within the next several weeks, the university will be announcing some $125 million in gifts to continue moving toward the "Cornell of the future." Among the gifts already announced was $25 million from the family of John Dyson to name the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.