Rebecca Quinn Morgan HE '60, who with her husband has endowed the deanship of the College of Human Ecology at Cornell, will be given the inaugural Martha Van Rensselaer Vision Award by the Human Ecology Alumni Association on April 20.

The award ceremony is a key event at the national celebration of the Cornell University Human Ecology Centennial at the Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers in New York City.

The event, which recognizes 100 years of home economics at Cornell, will include a historical sketch of home economics at Cornell written by historian Carol Kammen and performed by undergraduates Christine Faber-Mosely '01, Marc Johnson '01, Melanie Sarkislan '01 and Jeffrey Brauer '04; a panel discussion with Dean Emerita Francille Firebaugh and human ecology faculty Donald Kenkel, Charlotte Coffman and Carole Bisogni with Cornell students Deborah Lacey '01, Chetnashree Khemka '01 and graduate student Adam Blodgett MS '01; and an address by Dean Patsy Brannon on her vision for the college's future.

The Martha Van Rensselaer Vision Award recognizes "exemplary dedication to education as a means to improving the quality of individual lives and communities. It also acknowledges a demonstrated effort to assist the College in the achievement of its goals and mission." Rebecca Morgan and her husband, James, Eng. '62 and MBA'63, have committed a gift of $5 million to endow the college's deanship.

"Becky and James have demonstrated their belief in the college's mission and its future by endowing the deanship," says Brannon. "The Morgans' generosity, insight and vision are a beacon of leadership for our college."

Rebecca Morgan is on the Cornell Board of Trustees, serves as president of the Morgan Family Foundation and is former chief executive of Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network, a nonprofit organization of business, government and education leaders, and a former California legislator. She is a member of the President's Council of Cornell Women. Her husband is chief executive of Applied Materials Inc., Santa Clara, Calif.