I was the eleventh president of Cornell University.
During my presidency, Cornell conducted a year-long, community-wide process of strategic reflection known as the "Call to Engagement."
As a result of the Call to Engagement, the university committed itself to:
- strengthening its identity as a transnational university with global impact, and
- focusing its scientific and humanistic energies on some of the most significant challenges facing humanity in the twenty-first century:
During my presidency the university also set new records for fundraising success (ranking among the nation's most successful universities) and for applicant volume.
Cornell published a collection of my thoughts as president in a book entitled An Optimistic Heart.
