A $1 million grant from Corning Inc. to Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management will enable the school to develop a total-immersion curriculum in "e-business" and other components of an extensive electronic business program.

The Corning-supported e-business immersion will be offered at the Johnson School in spring 2001. It will involve students and faculty from across campus as well as executives from Corning and other leading-edge companies. The students will learn to leverage the Internet as a tool for making and marketing products globally.

In total-immersion learning, a small group of students spends an entire semester taking an intensive series of courses covering all aspects of a particular subject. The Johnson School together with Corning pioneered this learning method at Cornell with their first semester in manufacturing (SiM) in 1994, and the school now offers immersions in four subject areas. E-business will be the fifth.

Cornell's Johnson School and Corning chose to form the Corning-Cornell e-Business Program because the Fortune 500 manufacturing giant headquartered in Corning, N.Y., already a player in e-business strategy and marketing, seeks to be a leading mover in those areas, with Cornell's collaboration. Programs such as the e-business immersion will integrate Cornell's leading-edge applied research and teaching with Corning's unique expertise in developing and commercializing today's advanced technologies.

"For decades Cornell and Corning have shared a remarkably close and prosperous history. With this new program, we celebrate the long-standing partnership by marshalling our resources to create the future landscape of e-business," said Robert J. Swieringa, Anne and Elmer Lindseth Dean of the Johnson School.

In addition to focusing on how to execute established e-business strategies, Corning and Cornell are committed to helping students and executives evaluate the broader e-business landscape. The program will introduce students to "real world" applications of e-business from Corning and other leading companies. By observing how strategies evolve in the fast-changing e-business market in a range of industries, participants will gain immeasurable insight in how to harness the tremendous potential of e-business to realize key organizational objectives.

"This partnership presents a unique opportunity to capitalize on the globally recognized strengths of both Corning and Cornell," said Robert L. Ecklin, Corning executive vice president. "By integrating the leading-edge technologies of today with the world-class theorists and business leaders of tomorrow, we can break new ground and set new standards in e-business."

The Corning partnership with the Johnson School has a rich, long-standing history. An early product of the collaboration was the Johnson School's SiM program, mentioned above. In the total-immersion forum developed in SiM, students are deeply engaged with a team of faculty and business leaders in real-world situations, focusing on significant current business problems and future opportunities. Rather than reviewing static cases and discussing theoretical outcomes, the students become intensively immersed in the realities of the industry they are studying. The SiM program was designed by Johnson School faculty and key Corning executives. Other immersions have followed in the areas of managerial finance, investment banking, brand management and now e-business.

The Corning gift expands on the partnership that has focused on the intersection of theory and practice. It will enable the Johnson School to accelerate the development of its e-business immersion course to a new level. Cornell Professor Richard Conway, a leader in creating the original semester in manufacturing immersion, directs the e-business immersion team that includes faculty from Cornell's Johnson School and Computing and Information Science area. For Corning, the benefit of this partnership comes from leveraging the vast resources of an entire research university in an area critical to its business. For Cornell, it represents a vehicle for creatively merging academic theory with sound business practice. For both, it becomes a real-time way to exchange knowledge in the burgeoning area of e-business.

Located in the heart of Cornell's campus, the Johnson School is ranked by Business Week as one of the nation's top-10 business schools. In addition to immersion learning, it offers a variety of team teaching approaches, international business options and a focus on leadership in dynamic organizations.

Established in 1851, Corning Inc. (<www.corning.com&gt; ) creates leading-edge technologies for the fastest-growing markets of the world's economy. Corning manufactures optical fiber, cable and photonic products for the telecommunications industry and high-performance displays and components for television and other communications-related industries. The company also uses advanced materials to manufacture products for scientific, semiconductor and environmental markets. Corning's revenues in 1999 were $4.7 billion.