Three Cornell University faculty members are winners of prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship awards for 2004. They are among 185 artists, scholars and scientists from the United States and Canada selected from more than 3,200 applicants for this year's 80th annual competition totaling $6,912,000. The winners from Cornell in include two members of the Department of English and a member of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. They are Edwin A. (Todd) Cowen, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering; Roger Gilbert, professor of English; and Douglas Mao, associate professor of English. (April 20, 2004)
Industry's productivity losses from employee absenteeism due to illness have been well and frequently documented. Now researchers have documented another productivity headache increasingly affecting employers: on-the-job slowdowns by workers with a variety of medical complaints, from hypertension to arthritis. Economists have coined a new word to describe the productivity-loss problem: presenteeism. (April 20, 2004)
A labyrinth is not a maze but a spiral-like, purposeful path that meanders to a center and provides personal and spiritual benefits, advocates say. This spring, the Cornell University community will be introduced to the concept of labyrinths and their use for walking meditations. A special exhibit, "Labyrinths for Peace," will open Friday, April 23, in Room 3330 of the Carol Tatkon Center in Balch Hall, with an opening reception and refreshments at 3:30 p.m. and presentations beginning at 4 p.m. Speakers at the event will include: David Gallagher, the executive director of the national Labyrinth Society, founded in 1998, who will discuss the origins and history of labyrinths around the world; Janet Shortall, associate director of Cornell United Religious Work (CURW), who will recount her experience with the labyrinth concept; and Wai-Kwong Wong, a psychotherapist at Gannett: University Health Services, who will discuss the psychological and health benefits of walking a labyrinth. The Tatkon Center exhibition will be in place through May 22. (April 19, 2004)
Anu Rangarajan, Cornell University associate professor of horticulture, has been named director of the university's Small Farms Program. She succeeds R. David Smith, Cornell associate professor of animal science, who has been appointed interim director of the New York Farm Viability Institute. The Small Farms Program helps New York farmers and small-farm organizations through research, education and extension. It provides workshops in professional development, a reference Web site and a Cornell Cooperative Extension grant program for innovative small-farm projects. In 2003 the program launched the Small Farm Quarterly, which now reaches 63,000 farm and rural families across the Northeast. (April 19, 2004)
The Rev. John Polkinghorne, one of the foremost thinkers and writers on the correlation of science and religion, returns to Cornell University to deliver a Templeton-American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) Lecture titled "The Interaction of Science and Theology," Monday, April 26, at 8 p.m. in 200 Baker Laboratory. The lecture is free and open to the public. Polkinghorne last spoke at Cornell in 1998 on "The Friendship of Science and Theology." (April 19, 2004)
Top executives from Pixar, the animation studio that created "Finding Nemo" and "Monsters, Inc.," and other animation experts who, collectively, have won six Oscars, will be on the Cornell University campus, April 19-22, to meet with students interested in the digital arts. They will give four free public talks, one each day, as well as take part in small-group sessions with students in Professor Donald Greenberg's classes on art, animation and technology. The visit and talks are part of Digital Arts Graphics Week at Cornell and the prestigious Preston H. Thomas Memorial Lecture Series at the College of Architecture, Art and Planning's Department of Architecture. Co-sponsors at Cornell are the Program of Computer Graphics, the Faculty of Computing and Information Science and the Department of Architecture. (April 16, 2004)
Are there lessons to be learned when exported U.S.-style democracy fails to take root in the world's less-developed regions? The organizers of a conference at Cornell University on law and development think so. The conference, which takes place on Cornell's campus Sunday through Tuesday, April 18-20, will examine such rocky terrain as U.S. nation-building efforts in Iraq and elsewhere and will seek to learn from past failures and successes. (April 16, 2004)
Hania Kronfol of Toronto, Ontario, a senior government major in the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell, has been named a junior fellow by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C.
R. Richard Geddes, associate professor of policy analysis and management at Cornell University since 2002, will be heading to Washington, D.C., for a one-year term beginning Aug. 1 to serve as a senior staff economist with President George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA). Geddes, who was appointed in mid-March by the council members, will be one of 10 senior economists working with the three-member CEA, which analyzes and interprets economic developments, appraises the programs and activities of the government and advises the president on national economic policy. (April 15, 2004)
Cornell University Provost Biddy Martin and Vice President for Student and Academic Services Susan Murphy have established a campuswide Council on Mental Health and Welfare, an initiative aimed at bringing broad-based and sustained attention to the mental health of Cornell students. "Information from a variety of sources, nationally and here at Cornell, indicates that the number of students experiencing mental health problems has increased significantly over the past decade," says Murphy, who chairs the council. "We are concerned by this trend and are committed to being proactive at Cornell in our efforts to understand and address it." (April 15, 2004)
ITHACA, N.Y. (April 14, 2004) -- Mohsen Mostafavi has been named dean of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning, Cornell University President Jeffrey Lehman announced today. Mostafavi, a U.S. citizen who studied at London's Architectural Association School of Architecture (AA) and at the University of Cambridge, has served as chairman (equivalent to dean) of the AA since 1995. His Cornell appointment will begin July 1, 2004. Lehman said: "Mohsen Mostafavi is a true intellectual and a talented academic leader. He brings to Cornell an international reputation built upon an impressive track record of success on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the respect of some of the world's most renowned architectural practitioners and theorists. I am delighted he is joining Cornell's academic leadership." (April 14, 2004)
Cornell University Police will be joining the second annual wave of the national "Click It or Ticket" mobilization, starting Sunday, April 18, and running through Saturday, April 24. "Failure to wear a seat belt is against the law in this state. We enforce this law because it's the best proven way to save lives. If you won't buckle up to save your life, then buckle up to save yourself a ticket," said Sgt. Chuck Howard, traffic enforcement coordinator for Cornell University Police. (April 14, 2004)
