A $55 million gift to Cornell’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences will establish the Cornell CALS Ashley School of Global Development and the Environment, combining the Department of Global Development and the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment. The school is named in honor of Stephen B. Ashley ’62, MBA ’64, whose gift to endow the school is the largest in CALS history.

“Steve Ashley’s decades of leadership, advocacy and support for Cornell have had a profound impact on the university,” said President Michael I. Kotlikoff. “This investment to create the Ashley School is both timely and visionary, allowing us to bring together the expertise in agricultural, life, environmental and social sciences that underpin environmental and human well-being locally and globally. We are so grateful to Steve for his generosity, partnership and friendship.”

Ashley has given more than a half-century of service to Cornell, including 55 years on the University Council, 16 years on the Cornell Board of Trustees and 10 years as co-chair of the Far Above capital campaign. In 2016, he received the Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award, the university’s highest award for alumni service. Ashley is chairman and CEO of The Ashley Companies, a Rochester-based firm that specializes in property management, brokerage, financing and real estate investment.

“My family has had a strong, multigenerational relationship with Cornell,” Ashley said. “I met my wife, Janice, at Cornell and over the years, Cornell has influenced much of my personal and professional life. I am delighted to be able to support this initiative, which has been so thoughtfully framed and structured. I appreciate how it creates even stronger collaborations between agriculture, environmental science, economics and research to positively impact communities.”

Benjamin Houlton, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of CALS, said the concept for the school began with growing recognition of shared teaching, research and extension interests, especially among new faculty in the departments of Natural Resources and the Environment and Global Development.

“The Ashley School will create a dynamic ecosystem for discovery, experiential learning and innovation, transcending disciplines to spark scientific breakthroughs and real-world economic benefits for New York state and the world,” Houlton said. “Steve’s vision will allow us to leverage research, teaching and extension to address many of the world’s greatest challenges – personifying our land-grant mission.”

Rich Stedman, professor and former chair of the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, was named interim director of the Ashley School. Stedman has been conducting listening sessions, focus groups and one-on-one interviews with over 75 faculty, staff and graduate students of the newly combined departments. Faculty in the school are committed to addressing problems that impact real lives and livelihoods with a deep sense of place and purpose, he said.

“Global crises like famine, war-induced migration, biodiversity loss and extreme natural hazards, as well as local challenges like siting solar projects in New York state so they support energy production while sustaining farming and rural communities – all require a transdisciplinary approach,” he said.

The school will continue to support the two departments’ two undergraduate degrees (including one, environment and sustainability, that is shared with the College of Arts and Sciences), five undergraduate minors, four master’s degree programs and two Ph.D. degrees. Enrolled students won’t be affected, and students seeking to enroll in those programs can continue to do so. No new programs, majors or minors are forming at this time, but future formations will be considered in collaboration with faculty, CALS leadership said. The interim section heads of Natural Resources and the Environment and Global Development will be Rebecca Schneider, associate professor of natural resources and the environment, and Parfait Eloundou-Enyegue, professor of global development, respectively. 

CALS plans to recruit at least 10 additional faculty members to the new school, including three who will focus on agricultural, development and environmental economics, Houlton said. These economists, who bridge the gap between development and ecological resources, will be jointly appointed in CALS and the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, through the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management.

“I am grateful to Ben Houlton, Mike Kotlikoff, [Provost] Kavita Bala and [Charles F. Knight Dean of the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business] Andrew Karolyi for their enthusiastic leadership and friendship,” Ashley said.

The new school also deepens CALS’ vital partnership with the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, Houlton added.

“Students, staff and faculty in the Ashley School are addressing many of the world’s great sustainability challenges – climate change, poverty, food and energy security, population and human migration, environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and more,” Houlton said. “Strengthened by our world-class expertise, global leadership and land-grant mission, CALS is uniquely positioned to work with our partners to train the next generation and support a sustainable planet for all.”

Krisy Gashler is a writer for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.