Skorton

Cornell Hillel’s board of trustees will award the 2015 Tanner Prize to Cornell President David J. Skorton May 29 at the Cornell Club of New York. The prize is awarded annually to an individual, couple, family or other entity to recognize longtime contributions to the Jewish people and Cornell University. Board of Trustees Chairman Emeritus Harold Tanner ’52 will present the prize.

“We have long wanted to honor David Skorton with the Tanner Prize,” said Seth M. ‘Yossi’ Siegel ’74, J.D. ’78, who founded the Tanner Prize in 2005 and received the award in 2013. “David Skorton has been the inspiration for the university’s partnership with Israel’s leading technology university – the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology – and has enhanced Cornell while also improving the quality of life for Jewish students at our beloved alma mater.”

Said Tanner: “David Skorton has been an outstanding president of Cornell University and is an ideal recipient of the Tanner Prize. I am proud that his name will forever be linked with this university and this prize.”

An advocate for Cornell Hillel and Jewish life, Skorton has promoted partnerships among academic organizations in the U.S., Israel and other nations. In 2012, the American Jewish Committee honored Skorton with the prestigious Avraham Harman Leadership Award in appreciation of his leadership in fostering U.S.-Israel academic relationships.

Prior Tanner Prize recipients include Barbara Friedman ’59; David ’73 and Abby Joseph Cohen ’73; Andrew Tisch ’71; Irwin ’54 and Joan Jacobs ’54 and their son and daughter-in-law, Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs ’08; Irene B. Rosenfeld ’75, M.S. ’77, Ph.D. ’80, and Allison Rosenfeld ’08; Robert J. Katz ’69; Susan Murphy ’74, Ph.D. ’94; Seth Siegel ’74, J.D. ’78; and Lynn ’65 and Jules ’63 Kroll.

For more information about the Tanner Prize, contact Rachel Ossman, 607-255-8454.