The Cornell Commitment Recognizing Leadership, Work and Service, Research and Discovery, and Academic Excellence
Welcome! This brochure introduces you to three programs that comprise the Cornell Commitment. Through details about each program and comments from several scholars, you will gain a sense of how the Cornell Commitment can enhance your undergraduate learning experience and your future career. I am a Hunter R. Rawlings III Cornell Presidential Research Scholar and a student in the College of Human Ecology, where I am studying the social cognition, law, and policy of forced displacement. The support I receive as a Rawlings Cornell Presidential Research Scholar helps me to succeed in my pursuits. All Commitment scholars participate in activities that enhance our personal and academic development leadership workshops, internships, and summer research. Plus we meet and build lifelong connections with many people, including Cornell alumni, who share our interests and goals. I had the opportunity to work as an intern with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Kenya s Kakuma refugee camp, where I researched the cognitive development of refugee children. I have been awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to return to Kenya after graduation to further my studies of human rights and cognition in collaboration with refugee youth. Receiving a Cornell Commitment award has encouraged me to challenge myself and change the status quo, and to pursue my dreams. I wish you the best of luck in all of your endeavors! Bethany Ojalehto Bethany Ojalehto, in Kenya s Kakuma Refugee Camp Provided
When Jonathan Feldman was selected as a Meinig Family Cornell National Scholar, the feeling of empowerment that accompanied the honor was the defining reason he chose Cornell. With the scholarship, I was recognized as a leader even before I came to campus, Feldman says. The scholarship gave me the resources and guidance to mature academically and continue to grow as a person and as a leader. Of the long list of organizations to which Feldman gave his considerable energy and intelligence, there are two, he believes, that stand out. The first is the Interfraternity Council, to which Feldman was elected president. And the second is the United Way. Chosen as the first student representative to the Cornell United Way Campaign cabinet, Feldman organized A Cappella United, a Bailey Hall performance by 11 a cappella groups on campus the concert broke attendance records for a student-sponsored event and raised more than $2,400. Feldman also created the Stephen E. Garner Summer of Service Fellowships. These $1,500 stipends allow three rising high school seniors to work with United Way for a summer. This is very, very cool, says Feldman. In the first year we Jonathan Feldman, Government, with Gary Stewart raised nearly half of the needed $30,000 endowment and solicited three contributions of $1,500, so the program could start immediately. One of those contributions was from Feldman himself, who created the Gary J. Stewart Scholarship named for his mentor, the assistant director of Cornell s Office of Community Relations. Gary Stewart was the sounding board for my visions, Feldman says. He s helped me turn my dreams into reality. Meinig Family Cornell National Scholars The Meinig Family Cornell National Scholars program is looking for a few good leaders: students who are creative, action-oriented, and enthusiastic about changing some part of the world for the better. Meinig Scholars are selected based on their outstanding leadership and academic credentials in high school. Founded in 1944 and the oldest of the Cornell Commitment programs, the Meinig Family Cornell National Scholars program provides about 50 scholarships each year to incoming students. Students chosen to be Meinig Scholars are expected to continue to excel in the classroom and play an effective role in campus and community activities everything from student government to clubs, service organizations, the arts, and athletics. Students who practice their leadership skills while undergraduates go on better prepared to make a difference in the world beyond Cornell. The Meinig Family Cornell National Scholars program offers a number of benefits, including: access to up to $3,500 in a support account to use over their undergraduate Cornell career to cover the cost of their participation in internships and other experiential opportunities such as alternative breaks trips, Pre-Orientation Service Trips (POST), and conferences designed to expose students to leadership activities participation in the Freshman Forum, involving seminars for first-year students to network with other Meinig Scholars and campus leaders, and examine and address an issue of relevance to the Cornell community in the form of a group project the Executive Mentoring Program, which allows Meinig Scholars to shadow high-level Cornell administrators at events that promote understanding of Cornell leadership and governance issues (mentors have included the president; the provost; university counsel; the executive vice president for finance and administration; vice presidents for communications, human resources, student and academic services; numerous college deans; and directors of selected campus programs) connections with alumni across the Commitment programs to promote personal and career development Summer Expected Savings Replacement, which provides a monetary award for a limited number of scholars who are eligible for financial aid and who participate full-time in a program-funded internship during the summer up to $4,000/year in loan replacement/self-help for students who qualify for financial aid
The Cornell Tradition The Cornell Tradition, the largest of the three Commitment programs, exemplifies Ezra Cornell s founding principles by awarding fellowships each year to approximately 125 new freshmen who have demonstrated a significant work ethic in the form of paid work, service, and academic achievement. These motivated students provide more than 70,000 hours of paid work and almost 60,000 hours of service annually to their myriad communities. Recent Tradition-supported summer internships: Bosnia Initiative for Local Development (Bosnia) Botswana Predator Conservation Trust (Botswana) District of Columbia Public Schools Egbor Mission (Cambodia) Global Leadership Development Institute Harlem Children s Zone Academy Long Island Progressive Coalition Major League Baseball Network McBryce Consultancy (Ghana) Solidarity Center (AFL-CIO) Swami Viveknanda Youth Movement (India) Zoobreviven Foundation (Ecuador) The Cornell Tradition offers a number of benefits, including: access to up to $3,500 in a service support account that can be used for service trips, Pre-Orientation Service Trips (POST), Outdoor Odyssey, and other opportunities related to program ideals Summer Expected Savings Replacement, which provides a monetary award for a limited number of Tradition fellows who are eligible for financial aid and who participate full-time in a programfunded internship during the summer connections with alumni, peer advisors, and faculty liaisons in service, social, academic, and work activities designed to promote personal and career development participation in the Explore Cornell Tradition First-Year Experience Series, involving seminars dedicated to the exploration of program values and opportunities for interaction between first-year and upperclass Tradition fellows up to $4,000/year in loan replacement/self-help for students who qualify for financial aid wage subsidies for students who do not qualify for federal workstudy or to supplement when federal work-study runs out Ebony Ray, Industrial and Labor Relations (dual concentration in Africana Studies and Law and Society) As a Cornell Tradition fellow, Ebony Ray has applied her considerable talents to work for many different communities, both on and off campus. It s always been my life s goal to help the people who deserve more than they are getting in society, she says. Ray has had the opportunity to serve as project manager with OnSite Volunteer Services, a student-run, nonprofit group that matches student volunteers with organizations in Ithaca and the surrounding area. And in an internship with the Washington, D.C.-based AFL-CIO Building Investment Trust Corporation, she worked for an organization that invests AFL- CIO pension funds into low-risk commercial real estate and creates union jobs in the process. On campus Ray has worked in the community center at the North Campus Townhouses, an experience that led to another position she loved resident advisor in Mary Donlon Hall, Cornell s largest freshmen residence hall. She also enjoyed her duties as the executive vice president of MILRSO, the Minority Industrial and Labor Relations Student Organization, especially as an organizer of its highly acclaimed fashion show. The runway show, featuring the designs of students and professionals, draws more than 1,500 students. As part of her Tradition involvement, Ray now serves on the Student Advisory Council, helping to develop and coordinate service opportunities, faculty-student programs, social activities, and other programs that benefit Cornell Tradition and the campus and community at large. The Cornell Tradition fellowship gives me more chances to experience how rewarding it is to devote your energies to public service, Ray says. I have always been in favor of combining labor and study. Ezra Cornell, 1861
Daniel Macaya, a Rawlings Cornell Presidential Research Scholar, joined the research team of George G. Malliaras in the laboratory for organic electronics during his freshman year. Right from the start, I was treated like one of his graduate students, he says of Malliaras, describing their true mentoring relationship. Professor Malliaras gives me the freedom to go off and do my own experiments, then share the results with him. He provides guidance when I need it, Macaya explains. With the Research Scholar program behind you, professors know that you are top quality, that you came here to do research and are serious about it. Biosensors devices that detect biological substances using organic materials are Macaya s prime area of interest. By the end of his sophomore year, he developed a unique sensor that is capable of measuring glucose levels in saliva as well as blood and served as the first author in a publication describing his design in Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, a peer-reviewed international scientific journal devoted to the research and development of chemical transducers. Macaya looks forward to continuing his development of better medical devices as a PhD candidate in medical engineering and medical physics in a joint program offered through the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School. In addition, he wants to investigate biomaterials useful in spinal cord regeneration using polymers to create a scaffold in which cells can grow and repopulate. This new research focus grew out of tragedy. Macaya is an enthusiastic break-dancer, and last year a friend was paralyzed while dancing. That experience put things into perspective for me pushed me into a new area, Macaya says. The Research Scholar program has given me opportunities to do so much independent research that when I get to grad school I ll be prepared to hit the ground running. Daniel Macaya, Materials Science and Engineering Hunter R. Rawlings III Cornell Presidential Research Scholars Inquisitive. Inspired. Ingenious. These words describe the up to 40 Cornell freshmen who are awarded Hunter R. Rawlings III Cornell Presidential Research Scholarships each year. During the admissions selection process, students are chosen for this highly competitive program based on their outstanding academic credentials and their passion and potential for conducting research or scholarly study as undergraduates at the university. Rawlings Cornell Presidential Research Scholars work with faculty members on projects in a wide variety of academic disciplines. Each scholar participates in a research project every year while at Cornell and for at least one summer, either on or off campus. Rawlings Cornell Presidential Research Scholars have presented their work at national and international meetings such as these: American Public Health Association Conference Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication Computer-Human Interaction Conference Entomological Society of America International Animal Agriculture and Food Science Conference Joint Meeting of the Nuclear Physicists of the American Physical Society and the Physical Society of Japan Materials Science and Technology Conference Meeting of the American Astronomical Society National Conference on Undergraduate Research Supreme Court Human Rights Conference Rawlings Cornell Presidential Research Scholars program highlights include: a semester-long colloquium to help first-year students to learn about research opportunities on campus a faculty mentor who works with each student to develop an individualized plan for faculty-directed research the chance to present student research on campus and at conferences access to up to $8,000 in a research support account that can be used for wages, research-related travel, supplies, and summer research up to $4,000/year in loan replacement/self-help for students who qualify for financial aid the opportunity to work with faculty members on leading-edge research at one of the world s greatest research universities (recent honors theses by Rawlings Cornell Presidential Research Scholars have included such diverse topics as art in Nigeria and marine turtle conservation in the Mediterranean) the possibility of an Expected Savings Replacement, a monetary award for a limited number of eligible research scholars who work full-time in a program-approved, research-related position during the summer
Meinig Family Cornell National Scholars Leadership and academic excellence The Cornell Tradition Work, service, and scholarship Hunter R. Rawlings III Cornell Presidential Research Scholars Inquiry and discovery Students are selected for one of the Cornell Commitment programs during the admissions process, and are eligible to participate throughout their undergraduate years at the university, provided that they meet program requirements. For more specific information, including news and events, student profiles, newsletters, and photos, please visit the Cornell Commitment website. We also invite you to contact us at commitment@cornell.edu if you have questions about any of the three programs. www.commitment.cornell.edu Produced by the Office of Online Solutions and Publications at Cornell University. Cornell University is an equal-opportunity, affirmative-action educator and employer. Photography by Cornell University Photography unless noted otherwise. 10/11 PDF Shai Eynav @ shaiphoto.com