Charge

The recommendations of the selection committee should be referred to the President  for  approval and for action by the Board of Trustees.

From the Enabling Legislation:

1. 1. That a new category of non-resident Faculty membership be established at Cornell University with the title Professor-at-Large.
   2. That these Professors-at-Large be men and women of outstanding international distinction, and include humanists, scientists, social scientists, and members of the learned professions; and perhaps also non-academic persons of broad intellectual interests and high distinction drawn from public affairs, literature, and the creative arts.
   3. That, subject to availability of funds, the Professors-at-Large will be welcome on the Campus at any time, and would then have all  customary Faculty privileges.
2. 4. That the Professors-at-Large be appointed for a term of six years,  with the possibility of renewal.
   5. That conditions of appointment be that the nominees (a) agree to  accept the formal title of “Cornell University Professor-at-Large,”  and (b) agree to spend a minimum of two consecutive weeks every three years on the Cornell Campus.
   6. That Professors-at-Large receive an appropriate stipend, and travel expenses for each visit to the Campus.
   7. That the total number of Professors-at-Large should not normally exceed. It is suggested that a substantial number of these Professors-at-Large be from foreign countries.
   8. Vacancies in the Program should be publicly announced, and nominations solicited from departments, groups of departments and individual faculty members. All nominations should be supported by careful documentation, including a vita with a summary of the nominee’s outstanding accomplishments, positions held, honors received, together with a selected bibliography and letters attesting to the merit of the nomination from internationally recognized experts inside and outside Cornell.

Composition

Professor-at-Large nominations are reviewed by a selection committee consisting of the Dean of the Faculty, the Dean of the Graduate School or other representative of the President, the Chairman of the Program, the Dean of Students (ex officio member), and nine other faculty members appointed by the President for staggered three-year terms upon the recommendation of the Nominations and Elections Committee with the concurrence of the Faculty Senate after consultation with the past selection committee.

Adopted by the University Faculty, January 13, 1965, Records, pp. 3127-30; February 10, 1965, Records, p. 3131; FCR, February 14, 1979, Records, pp. 4835-36C, Appendix A; FCR, February 9, 1994, Records, pp. 7257-58C, Appendix B. Changes to reflect amendments to Organization and Procedures of the University Faculty, October 1995. Amended by the Faculty Senate, February 9, 2000, Records, pp.

Where not listed as a member or chair, both the Dean of Faculty and the Associate Dean and Secretary of the Faculty, shall be a ex officio members of each committee of the University Faculty and each committee of the Senate. (Faculty Handbook, Article V Section D Part 7) (Faculty Handbook, Article VI Section A Part 3)

To: Dean De Rosa

From: Robert S. Weiss, Chair

Date: June 29, 2024

Subject: ADW-PAL Annual Report

A.D. White Professors-at-Large Selection Committee Activities and Formal Campus Visits

PART I

INTRODUCTION

The Selection Committee welcomed back Dr. Robert S. Weiss (Department of Biomedical Sciences) as Program Chair for the third year. The Program Chair plays an integral role in overseeing the activities of the Committee to nominate and select new Professors-at-Large each year. Likewise, the Chair is involved with program communications and interacting with visiting Professors-at Large.  To facilitate effective visit planning, the Program Chair now attends meetings with the Program Administrator (Cindy Greco) and all faculty hosts scheduled for upcoming academic year visits in order to define responsibilities and timelines and to discuss visit activities.

This year’s Selection Committee meetings were held on September 6, 2023; December 6, 2023; and March 7, 2024.

The 2023-24 activities of the Selection Committee were focused on the annual Call for Nominations initiative.  As in prior years, three committee meetings were convened to complete the process of calling for new nominations and then conducting a two-step selection process.

The following is a list of the 2023-24 A.D. White Professors-at-Large Selection Committee:

Lorenzo Alvisi – Professor, Department of Computer Science

*Kathryn Boor – Dean of the Graduate School; Professor, Food Science

Susanne Bruyère – Professor, Industrial and Labor Relations

*Eve De Rosa – Dean of University Faculty; Associate Professor, College of Human Ecology

Steve Jackson – Associate Professor, Department of Information Science and Department of Science & Technology Studies; Vice Provost for Academic Innovation

Lisa Kaltenegger – Associate Professor, Department of Astronomy; Director, Carl Sagan Institute

Karim-Aly Kassam – Professor, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment

John T. Lis – Professor, Department of Molecular Biology & Genetics

*Marla Love – Dean of Students

Marilyn Migiel – Professor, Department of Romance Studies

Keith Obadike – Professor, Department of Art

Jeremy Wallace – Professor, Department of Government

Robert S. Weiss – A.D. White Professors-at-Large Program Chair; Senior Associate Dean, The Graduate School; Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences

*ex officio members

 A.D. WHITE PROFESSORS-AT-LARGE SELECTION COMMITTEEE: STRUCTURE

The 13-member A.D. White Professors-at-Large Selection Committee includes three members who hold the title of ex officio including: Dean of Students, Dean of the Graduate School, and the Dean of Faculty. The membership of the Committee is overseen by the Faculty Senate Nominations and Elections Committee, which selects and approves faculty members to hold three-year terms (two-term limit – 6 years) on the ADW-PAL Selection Committee.

The Nominations and Elections Committee works to make certain that representation on the committee is reflective of a wide range of Colleges and academic departments (arts, humanities, life sciences, social sciences, physical sciences) across the entire campus.

The Committee discussed the vacancy created by Susanne Bruyère (Industrial and Labor Relations) rotating off the Committee upon the upcoming completion of her term.

The new Committee member is Samantha Sheppard (Associate Professor; Chair, Department of Performing and Media Arts) who has been appointed to serve a three- year term beginning July 1, 2024.

A.D. WHITE PROFESSORS-AT-LARGE: PROCESS

Ten pre-proposal nominations were submitted for consideration, and five were favorably reviewed, leading to requests for full nomination submissions. Of the five nominations invited to submit, three full nomination proposals were received. The three full nominations received were all favorably reviewed by the Selection Committee in March 2024 and endorsed to move forward for consideration by the University President and Board of Trustees for Professor-at-Large appointments. Subsequently, the three candidates were approved at the May 2024 Board of Trustees meeting:

Cory Doctorow (Arts) – Writer, technology blogger, activist, and public intellectual

Louis Massiah ‘77 (Arts) – Interdisciplinary documentary filmmaker and film producer

P. (Palagummi) Sainath (Social Sciences) – Writer, journalist and activist

PART II

A.D. WHITE PROFESSORS-AT-LARGE VISITS AND ACTIVITIES

The Program schedules, plans, implements, and evaluates formal campus visits by Professors-at- Large throughout the academic year. During their time on campus, Professors-at-Large engage in a lively schedule of classes, meetings, and other presentations. It has been determined that six to eight ADW-PAL visits per academic year allows sufficient time to schedule a wide variety of activities, and to inform and gather a dedicated and ample audience.

The following full, formal campus visits took place in the 2023-24 academic year:

FALL 2023

Ellen Rothenberg (Life Sciences) – September 11-15, 2023

Carl Wieman (Physical Sciences) – September 25-29, 2023

May Berenbaum (Life Sciences) – October 2-6, 2023

Steve Quake (Life Sciences) – October 23-27, 2023

SPRING 2024

Mabel O. Wilson (Physical Sciences) – March 4-8, 2024

Tayari Jones (Humanities) – March 18-22, 2024

Theda Skocpol (Social Sciences) – April 8-12, 2024

The following are full, formal campus visits scheduled to take place in the 2024-25 academic year:

FALL 2024

Sir Hilary Beckles (Humanities) – September 16-20, 2024

Robert Stavins ‘80 (Social Sciences) – October 28-November 1, 2024

Michel Devoret (Physical Sciences) – November 18-22, 2024

SPRING 2025

Steven Levitsky (Social Sciences) – March 4-8, 2025

Lynn Meskell (Social Sciences) – April 14-18, 2025

Martín Caparrós (Humanities) – April 21-25, 2025

The program is in the process of working with faculty hosts to plan the 2025-26 visits.

A.D. WHITE PROFESSOR-AT-LARGE MINI VISITS

An ADW-PAL ‘mini’ visit is structured as a one-time, 1-2 day visit that brings the ADW-PAL to the Cornell campus in coordination with the faculty host’s academic department. Each on-site ‘mini’ visit must include at least one public event (lecture, performance, etc). Alternatively, this mechanism may be used to support a virtual ‘mini’ visit featuring a professionally-produced recording of the ADW-PAL, such as an interview or reading, created to share with and engage the Cornell community. The ADW-PAL ‘mini’ visit mechanism was established in response to challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and was designed to  keep current ADW-PAL and their respective faculty hosts satisfied and engaged with the ADW-PAL Program during times when longer on-campus visits are not possible. The ‘mini’ visit does not substitute for or replace either of the two standard week-long visits that ADW-PAL are expected to make during their appointment. In addition, these visits are optional.

The following campus ‘mini’ visit took place in the 2023-24 academic year:

FALL 2023

Bram Govaerts (Life Sciences) – November 6-10, 2023

There was one additional ‘mini’ visit scheduled to take place in fall 2023, that was deferred, at the request of the Professor-at-Large and their respective faculty hosts. Steve Levitsky (Social Sciences) had been scheduled to visit September 25-26, 2023. As noted above, Professor Levitsky is scheduled to make a full visit in Spring 2025.

No campus ‘mini’ visits are currently scheduled to take place in the 2024-25 academic year.

Finally, it should be noted that the appointments for two Professors-at-Large, Stephen Quake (Life Sciences) and Theda Skocpol (Social Sciences), ended June 30, 2024. Both completed two full week-long campus visits during their term.

2022-23, 2021-22, 2020-2021, 2019-2020, 2018-2019, 2017-18, 2016-2017, 2015-2016, 2013-14, 2011-12