Hello everyone. My name is Kathryn Boor
and I am the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
at Cornell University. We call our
college, 'CALS.'
On behalf of all of us in CALS, I am
honored
to have this opportunity to welcome you
to Cornell University.
This is my 11th year welcoming new and
transfer students to CALS as dean of the
college,
and it is absolutely one of my favorite
parts of the job.
I'd like to extend a special welcome to
parents who are logged in today.
As the mother of a Cornell Class of 2016
graduate,
I know the pride, the joy and the
anticipation that you likely feel as
your student embarks
on this exciting new chapter. To our
students,
I am delighted that you are joining us,
especially during this exceptional
moment in history
when our country and countries around
the world
are working to create a new sense of
normal while we battle a global pandemic.
Your introduction to Cornell will be
different than anything we've
experienced
before. The university has been working
hard to explore
and to develop new ways to learn and to
share experiences, while making
changes that are guided by science to
ensure the health
and the well-being of our campus and our
community.
We are excited by the opportunity to
pave new paths together.
This is what we do as Cornellians and
it's one of many reasons
to feel proud to join Cornell CALS'
family.
CALS is consistently ranked as one of
the world's
top schools across our many disciplines
and that attracts the world's finest
students and scholars.
Since the founding of our college, our
faculty have included
five nobel prize laureates.
These laureates' accomplishments include
crystallizing the first enzyme,
demonstrating how genes control the
basic chemistry of the living cell,
and discovering the ability of genes to
change position
on the chromosome. These discoveries have
revolutionized modern science.
A few other historic highlights from
CALS faculty and alumni research,
include Edward Bernays, who pioneered the
use of psychology and public relations
campaigns.
William Keeton, who reported the first
conclusive evidence that birds use
magnetic cues for navigation,
and Bob Baker. who invented the chicken
nugget,
which of course McDonald's made famous
as the Chicken McNugget.
And some Cornell graduates that you may
recognize,
include film actress Adepero Oduye from
the Class of 1999.
She appeared in the film "12 Years a
Slave," which won the 2014 Academy Award
for Best Picture.
And more recently, she was in the Emmy
Award-winning Netflix series
“When They See Us.”
Journalist and writer
Mickey Rapkin
from the Class of 2000. Now Mickey's
book
“Pitch Perfect” launched the 2012 hit film
and was purportedly based on the
author's experience at Cornell
and an acapella vocal group. Closer to
home,
communication major, Svante Myrick,
Class of 2009,
was voted mayor of Ithaca in 2011.
He is Ithaca's youngest mayor and one of
the youngest mayors
in U.S. history.
I have no doubt
that in 10 years the dean of CALS will
be bragging
about you. You've come to Cornell with
unique and diverse
interests and backgrounds. Your broad
interests include
beekeeping, business, biostatistics - to
name just a few.
Among you are several entrepreneurs,
dairy princesses,
and Junior Olympian athletes. Some of you
have already been conducting scientific
research.
For example, plant conservation at New
York Botanical Garden;
the effects of ginseng on Alzheimer's
disease;
and the environmental effects of
commercial fishing off the coast of
Alaska.
These diverse interests and
backgrounds reveal the qualities and the
strengths
that each of you brings to Cornell and
these strengths enrich
the campus experience for all of us.
By joining us here at Cornell, you have
demonstrated your commitment to your
schoolwork and to your activities,
your desire to tackle and to solve
problems,
and your passion to make the world a
better place for others.
In CALS, you will find a supportive
community to encourage you to fulfill
your dreams
and to help you gain the skills and the
knowledge necessary to build successful
careers
and to affect meaningful change. Of
course you will encounter challenges
along the way.
There are times when you may feel
worried about making connections with
others
or you may feel unprepared for a task or
intimidated by an assignment.
You may even wonder if you belong at
Cornell.
These are very normal thoughts and
feelings
and there's a good chance that you may
experience them at least once
during your time here. I know this from
first-hand experience.
I originally came to Cornell in 1976 as
a freshman.
I will always remember my first exam
here at Cornell.
These exams we call "prelims," short
for "preliminary exams."
Many of you will be taking Chemistry 2070.
Well, Chem 2070 was my very first
Cornell exam. I studied hard,
but I was not prepared for the
expectation
to go well beyond the mere repetition of
facts
that were presented in class. The
instructor
expected synthesis and extrapolation.
When I left the exam that evening I
thought it was unlikely
that I got more than a third of the exam
correct.
What a shock that was for me as someone
who was used to getting straight A's in
high school.
I walked straight out of that exam and
went straight to Mann Library,
which is where I knew my older brother
would be studying.
I asked him to meet me at my dorm room
in 30 minutes,
as I would be packing up to go home.
I felt that Cornell had made a horrible
mistake
by admitting me and I felt that I
couldn't possibly fit in with my
classmates
who had all appeared to me to be so much
more confident when they walked out of
that exam.
Well, my brother calmed me down and he
explained that I needed to get used to
new
challenges beyond what I had been used
to in high school,
both academic and social. He said I would
be fine.
Well you see me here today.
I did not get all A's as an
undergraduate
at Cornell, not even close. But I assure
you
that all of those experiences were an
important part of the world
class education that I received at
Cornell University.
No matter who you are or how well
prepared you may be,
you will almost certainly have similar
moments of doubt,
frustration or disappointment in the
coming years.
But please remember - we chose you
to be here. You are Cornellians.
So let me share some advice for our
students, which Icoffer as much from my
own experience
as a student at Cornell, as well as my
time since as an educator
and an advisor. And so first,
make yourself known to faculty. Set a
goal
to create a connection with a faculty
member.
One faculty member a year, or perhaps one
a semester.
These are the faculty who will later
provide references
and recommendations as you pursue
internships,
graduate school or future employment.
Start now by making that strong
connection
with your academic advisor. My second
piece of advice
is to find opportunities to make a
difference while you're at Cornell.
The university offers hundreds of
opportunities for learning and discovery
even as Cornell has reimagined the
campus experience for this coming fall
semester. A great resource to explore
is the Experience Cornell website. There
you'll find programs to help you develop
your interests,
to define your career goals or to engage
with the community,
even while maintaining the new protocols
that we will have in place.
Among the many options that you have, is
to join
the CALS Dean's Student Advisory Council.
The CALS Dean relies on members
of the council for creative ideas and
for innovative solutions to address the
needs of CALS students.
And, of course, this semester we will all
make a difference by upholding Cornell's
culture of shared responsibility
in the context of this
pandemic.
This means we'll be taking steps to
protect ourselves
and others and being responsible for
modifying our behavior
as a member of our community.
And because Cornell is a world-class
academic community,
I also want to emphasize that Cornell
takes academic integrity
very seriously. It is a fundamental value
of our Cornell community. Over the summer
you were asked to watch the university's
video on cheating.
You should review Cornell's Code of
Academic Integrity,
which offers practical advice and
helpful examples
on academic conduct. The code emphasizes
the importance of doing your own work
and acknowledging when you get help from
others, among other guidelines.
It is important to review this material
so that you understand
how to navigate the challenges of your
coursework, while maintaining Cornell's
core values,
especially with much of the fall
semester course materials that will be
available
remotely. You can review the code as part
of
CALS' orientation website.
As you begin your classes, here's my
final piece of advice:
try to push yourself on occasion beyond
what you're certain
you can do. You may not succeed the first
time that you try,
but you certainly will be better
prepared to succeed the next time.
You will find, just as I did,
that Cornell CALS is a caring community
with many resources to help you
throughout your time here.
With our wonderfully diverse interests
and backgrounds,
we all have one thing in common:
each of us has 168 hours in a week. How to manage those hours while pursuing
academic success,
exploring your passions, and maintaining
your health and well-being,
is a very important part of what you're
going to learn at Cornell University.
There are many specific resources that
are available to support you,
and our CALS Student Services team is a
great place to start.
Ann LaFave and her team are ready to
point you toward resources
and workable solutions in all areas of
your campus experience.
At Cornell CALS, we believe in our
potential as Cornellians
to leave the world a better place than
we found it. This commitment, this responsibility,
is especially important to remember in
the face of violence against fellow
citizens being targeted because of race,
background or perspective. The solutions
are not
simple and change may come more slowly
than we would like, but as Cornell
President Martha Pollack has stated,
we cannot stand silent.
Cornell University and CALS have had
long-standing commitment to supporting a
diverse
student, staff and faculty body.
Our college has an active Office of
Diversity and Inclusion that works
closely
with our faculty committee on diversity
and inclusion on a wide range of
initiatives,
and the resources describing these are
available on our website.
You might be interested to know that
CALS has been a campus leader
in this area. While Cornell President
Pollack recently announced that all
Cornell undergraduates will soon have a
diversity requirement as part of their
curriculum,
until now CALS has been the only college
at Cornell University that has required
all undergraduates to elect a course
specifically in human diversity
before graduation. We also were the first
college to support the Intergroup
Dialogue Project,
which is an effort that offers peer
facilitated courses
and workshops that teach communication
and collaboration
across social cultural and power
differences
to promote equity and democracy.
With our enthusiastic support, now all
incoming first-year students engage in
community ad Cornell programming
that's based on the Intergroup Dialogue
Project's model.
Our college's ten core values speak to
the commitments that we have as a
community.
And these principles infuse all of our
practices
and our activities. Please take a moment
to review
these principles and to understand some
of the ways that you can help reinforce
our values as a Cornellian. One way
you can contribute to our community, no
matter where you are,
is to remember to wear your mask and to
practice physical distancing. As a
reminder,
all students in Ithaca will be required
to abide by a campus behavioral compact.
Let's all work together to help maintain
a safe,
educational and vibrant learning
environment
for all members of our Cornell community.
I'd like to close by extending one more
welcome to the CALS Class of 2024.
You are all about to embark on a
life-changing journey
of exploration and discovery.
We are going to demand a lot of you.
You may wonder at some point if you made
the right choice
in coming here. Those thoughts are normal
and, frankly,
even expected. But by the time that you
receive your diploma,
you will know that your choice was the
right one.
Enjoy your time at Cornell. This is the
beginning of a long,
productive and rewarding relationship
with your alma mater. Thank you for
listening to me today
good luck to all of you. And I can't wait
to meet you
in person.
