President's Office Staff

James W. Brown, Special Assistant to the President
Second Floor Old Sem, (319) 895-4485

Jim coordinates a number of President's Office activities, primarily centered around planning, program development and management, communications, and technology. He is a 1969 honors graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz (psychology), with a master's (1972) and doctorate (1975) in developmental psychology and psychophysiology from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Jim spent 15 years as a professor and academic administrator at San Diego State University before coming to Cornell in 1990 as a faculty member in psychology. He served for many years as Associate Dean of the college and Director of Institutional Research and provided interim leadership in the Registrar's Office and Information Technology. He is also the current record-holder for chairing administrative search committees.

Brinda Caldwell, Assistant to the President
Second Floor Old Sem, (319) 895-4324

Brinda Caldwell has been Assistant to the president since 1995. She provides administrative and secretarial support to the President and assists the President’s Council in special projects. She is also the Assistant Secretary to the Board of Trustees. In this role, she distributes information to trustees, organizes their meetings, and maintains trustee records. She also serves as a notary public for the college.

Brinda joined Cornell in 1989 and was Administrative Assistant to the Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College prior to her position in the President’s Office. Brinda has a bachelor's degree in business from Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with minors in education and English, and has completed graduate work in Business Education from the University of Iowa in Iowa City.