Cornell administrators announced that the university would be changing its COVID-19 alert level back to “New Normal,” citing improved surveillance testing results and the relatively low number of current cases of COVID-19.
One unsung aspect of Cornell’s success in managing the spread of COVID-19 on campus has been a commitment to analyze and learn, to pivot and adapt. As a result, the university will implement tweaks to its COVID-19 response plan this Spring semester.
During the pandemic, IT and audio-visual staff equipped many classroom spaces on the Ithaca campus with specialized Zoom Rooms software. These setups allowed instructors to deliver course material, including views of presentations, board notes, and documents, to both in-person and remote students. Recently, Zoom presented Cornell with an award recognizing this innovative use of their applications.
Larry Glickman, professor of history at Cornell University, says the sudden interest in direct payments as part of a coronavirus economic relief package signals a shift from conservative to liberal ideas.
On Cornell’s Ithaca campus this week, in the midst of a semester interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, a basketball court in Bartels Hall stirred to life with a new, urgent mission and two dozen volunteers who began sewing surgical masks for Cayuga Medical Center.
Rural counties in upstate New York are likely to be the state’s most vulnerable to a COVID-19 outbreak that could strain local health care infrastructure, according to an analysis by Cornell demographers.
Students working with faculty and staff in the Department of Performing and Media Arts have created nine short films exploring life at Cornell in the time of COVID-19. “Off-Campus/On Screen” will be shown online Dec. 18-20.
Grants awarded recently by the Cornell Center for Social Sciences seeded research projects on topics ranging from COVID-19 and policing to clean energy and product design, led by scholars from across the university.
In its third application cycle shaped by COVID-19, Cornell has attracted record interest, admitting a talented, diverse Class of 2026 from a broader range of places than ever before.
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact the world, a growing number of colleges and universities are waiving standardized test requirements or making them optional. The College Board, which administers the SAT and the ACT, anticipated “an at-home style solution” for testing, and said it would make a formal announcement on Wednesday to clarify their recommendation. Ronald Ehrenberg is professor of industrial and labor relations and economics at Cornell University and the director of the Cornell Higher Education Research Institute.
