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Cornell University

Office of the Dean of Faculty

Connecting & Empowering Faculty

Resolution 29: Ward Center for Nuclear Sciences

Passed: May 8, 2002

Sponsors:

  • Herbert Deinert, German Studies
  • David Delchamps, Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Kathryn Gleason, Landscape Architecture
  • Robin Gleed, Clinical Sciences
  • Robert Kay, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
  • George Kollias, Clinical Sciences
  • Subrata Mukherjee, Theoretical and Applied Mechanics
  • Linda Nowak, Molecular Medicine
  • Andrew Ramage, History of Art and Archaeology

Senate Discussions: May 8, 2002

 

Resolution

Resolution on the Ward Center for Nuclear Sciences

Whereas

  1. the WCNS (Ward Center for Nuclear Sciences) continues to fulfill its Faculty Senate charter to provide, without charge, teaching and research facilities for all students, staff, and faculty, and to provide outreach services to New York State industry;
  2. thousands of students, hundreds of alumni, many dozens of faculty members, a dozen major companies, three US Senators, the US Department of Energy, several government laboratories, peer institutions, and the Faculty Senate have expressed their unqualified support for continuing the work of the WCNS;
  3. the next president and the new dean of engineering should be allowed to learn about and review the mission and potential of the WCNS;
  4. the laboratory was built without university funds, the donor provided money to offset maintenance and utility costs, and the Center can support itself and the salary and benefits of its director, a full-time faculty member; and
  5. the need for students with hands-on training in nuclear science and engineering is so great that the US DOE has begun a major new support program for university reactor laboratories called Innovations in Nuclear Infrastructure and Education;

Be It Resolved That
the Faculty Senate recommends to the Provost, President, and the Board of Trustees that the TRIGA reactor not be decommissioned immediately, but that the WCNS, and its TRIGA Reactor and Gamma Cell, continue to provide services to the Cornell community for a period of five years.