Alumni can best support Cornell by promoting the new Cornell College of Business’ excellence in hospitality, agriculture, sustainability and technology, said Provost Michael Kotlikoff, in an online alumni forum Feb. 25.

“I hope that you – as alumni, as volunteers, as supporters of Cornell – can join me in looking forward at what we’re trying to create and, in fact, help us to create it,” he said. “My [sense from my] interactions with students and many alumni is that they get it. Students particularly are interested in the most advanced business education.”

In addition to Kotlikoff, Soumitra Dutta, the college’s dean designate, participated in the forum; Fred Van Sickle, vice president for alumni affairs and development, moderated the event.

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Separate online forums for alumni from each school took place Feb. 17-19; including the Feb. 25 forum, 451 alumni participated. Recordings of each forum are available online.

In discussions with students, Kotlikoff said he has found that some MBA students at the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management are interested in the deep industry connections at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management and at the School of Hotel Administration (SHA). Undergraduates are also intrigued with the possibilities the new college presents, Kotlikoff said. “I’m seeing much more flexibility in our younger students about this, and some, frankly, enthusiasm for it, because this is a vote of confidence on the importance of business education at Cornell University.”

 Kotlikoff opened the forum with a presentation outlining the vision, rationale and process for the college. Dutta followed with remarks on three college foundations: uniqueness, excellence and impact.

“Clearly the Cornell College of Business gives us a unique opportunity to create something different, not to create another ‘me-to’ business school … but to leverage the histories, the distinctness of the components that will make up the College of Business,” Dutta said.

Integration will boost the excellence of all the schools, Dutta said. A larger faculty will attract more eminent professors; a richer array of courses will attract better students; and a unified college will build stronger relationships with industry partners, he said. As a result, the college will have a deeper impact as it strives to solve pressing societal problems, he added.

 Answering the first question, Kotlikoff said SHA and Johnson will remain endowed and Dyson statutory; Dyson will be a shared unit between the business college and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Will New York state applicants enroll in Dyson, rather than SHA, to take advantage of cheaper tuition? Dutta expects applications to all the schools to increase with the college’s higher visibility, he said. “The Hotel School succeeds by attracting a special kind of applicant, and that kind of applicant will still be attracted to the Hotel School,” he said.

Integration of the schools will not create more bureaucracy, Dutta said. The Staff Synergy Group is meeting to determine which administrative services need a higher degree of centralization and which need less; meanwhile the Faculty Governance Committee is exploring integrated processes for hiring, tenure and promotion, he said.

Quite a few students and alumni have asked how diplomas will read, Kotlikoff said. Currently diplomas read “Cornell University” and are signed by the dean of the student’s school and the university president. Most likely, College of Business degrees will have those elements, as well as the signature of the College of Business dean. “We won’t subtract anything, won’t in any way diminish these brands; we’ll just add something to it,” Kotlikoff said.

Van Sickle encouraged alumni to send further questions to the College of Business website.