Four members of the Cornell community recently were elected honorary members of Sphinx Head, Cornell's oldest senior honor society, "for their outstanding leadership and distinguished service to the university." They are professor Maria Cristina Garcia and alumnae Renee T. Alexander '74, Mary F. Berens '74 and Kristen Rupert '74.

Garcia is a professor of history, a former director of the Latino Studies Program and currently the interim director of the American Studies Program at Cornell. Before coming to Cornell in 1999, she was an associate professor at Texas A&M University. The author of two books, "Havana USA: Cuban Exiles and Cuban Americans in South Florida, 1959-1994" and "Seeking Refuge: Central American Immigration to Mexico, the United States and Canada," Garcia serves as adviser to the university's Cuban-American Association and on the board of directors of Raices de Esperanza, which has co-sponsored several conferences at Cornell on Cuban-American issues.

Alexander, a founding member of the Cornell Black Alumni Association, is director of minority alumni programs in the Division of Alumni Affairs and Development at Cornell. Before coming to Cornell in 2006, she served as director of special programs and initiatives at the New School's Eugene Lang College, a lecturer at CUNY's Bronx Community College and program director and internship coordinator at CUNY's Hostos Community College.

Berens served Cornell professionally and as a volunteer for most of her adult life. She retired in 2009 as Cornell's director of alumni affairs. Prior to that, she served as associate director of Cornell's Metropolitan New York Regional Office, director of the Southwest/Mountain Regional Office, assistant dean for Development and Alumni Affairs in the College of Engineering, and director of college and unit public affairs. As an alumna, she has been active in the Cornell Alumni Federation, on numerous committees of the President's Council of Cornell Women, in the Cornell Alumni Association of Ithaca and the Cornell Women's Club of Ithaca.

Rupert is executive director of the Massachusetts Alliance for International Business. She was formerly a vice president and director of the Bank of Boston and before that an associate director of admissions at Brandeis University. She has been a Class of 1974 officer ever since graduating. A former president of the Cornell Alumni Federation and the Cornell Club of Boston, she serves on the Cornell Plantations Advisory Board, chairs the Outdoor Education Advisory Board and is in her third term as a member of the Cornell University Council.