Cornell University
Cornell University, located in
Ithaca, New York, is a major research
university and a member of the
Ivy League. Cornell was founded in 1865 by
Ezra Cornell, a businessman and a pioneer in the
telegraph industry, and
Andrew Dickson White, a respected scholar. It is the land grant university of the state of
New York.
Cornell is among the most selective universities in the country, and counts twenty-seven Nobel laureates among its affiliated faculty members and students. In 1872, Cornell became the first major eastern institution to admit women along with men. The campus is situated on 740 rolling acres overlooking Lake Cayuga, and the central portion is bounded on both sides by limestone gorges and spectacular waterfalls.
The university's 13,300 undergraduates and 6,200 graduate students come from more than a hundred countries and all fifty states. Cornell offers graduate degrees in approximately 100 academic and professional fields. Cornell's professional offerings include schools of law, management (business), medicine, and veterinary medicine.
Cornell's medical school, The Weil Medical College, and the Graduate School of Medical Sciences are located in New York City.
The Johnson Art Museum at Cornell was designed by I. M. Pei. Former professors include Carl Sagan, Norman Malcolm, Vladimir Nabokov, Hans Bethe, and Richard Feynman.
The sports teams are all called "Big Red". They participate in the Ivy League and the ECAC.
The undergraduate colleges and schools include:
- 4 private schools: Arts and Sciences; Art, Architecture and Planning; Hotel; and Engineering;
- 3 State University of New York schools: Agriculture; Human Ecology; and Industrial and Labor Relations.
The Graduate/Professional Colleges and schools include:
- Graduate Law School
- Johnson Graduate School of Management
- Weill Cornell Medical College (New York City)
- Weill Cornell Medical College (Qatar)
- Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences (New York City)
- College of Veterinary Medicine (a State University of New York unit)
Other academic units include:
- Computing and Information Science
- School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions
- Division of Nutritional Sciences.
See also : CORC, Cornell Theory Center
Famous Alumni
- Eric Alterman, liberal author and columnist.
- Joyce Brothers, Author, psychologist, and television personality.
- Pearl S. Buck (M.A. 1926) , author of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel, The Good Earth, and Nobel laureate (1938, literature).
- Adolph Coors (A.B. 1907), co-founder of the Coors beer brewing company.
- Joseph Coors (B.S. 1939), co-founder of the Coors beer brewing company.
- Ann Coulter (A.B. 1985), conservative author and columnist.
- Dave Duffield, co-founder of PeopleSoft software company.
- Dave Edgerton, co-founder of Burger King restaurant chain.
- Richard Farina, author and folksinger.
- Francis Fukuyama (A.B), political economist and philosopher.
- Allen Funt (A.B. 1934), producer, created Candid Camera show(the first "reality tv"!).
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg (A.B. 1954), United States Supreme Court justice.
- Wilson Greatbatch (B.E.E. 1950), inventor of the cardiac pacemaker.
- Jeff Hawkins, 1979, inventor of the PalmPilot and founder of Palm, Inc and Handspring
- Lee Teng-hui, President of the Republic of China (on Taiwan).
- Huey Lewis, rock musician (Huey Lewis and the News).
- Ed Lu (1984), NASA astronaut.
- Bill Maher (A.B. 1978), comedian and Politically Incorrect satirist.
- Thomas Midgley inventor of Freon and tetra-ethyl lead.
- Robert Tappan Morris, Jr, worm author.
- Jim McLamore, co-founder of Burger King restaurant chain.
- Toni Morrison, author and Nobel laureate.
- Bill Nye (B.S., MEng 1977), the Science Guy.
- Thomas Pynchon, author.
- Janet Reno (B.A. 1960), US Attorney General under President Clinton.
- Christopher Reeve (A.B. 1974), actor, best known for Superman.
- Steve Reich, composer.
- Matt Ruff, author.
- Kurt Vonnegut, author of Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions.
- E. B. White (A.B. 1921), American essayist, author of Elements of Style, Charlotte's Web.
- Margaret Bourke-White (A.B. 1927), photojournalist.
- Paul Wolfowitz, Deputy Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush.
- Peter Yarrow, folksinger (Peter, Paul and Mary).
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