VIDEO: An update on King Chapel

Jeff Mick of Facilities management, gives an overview of the King Chapel renovations so far and what remains to be done.Work started about five weeks ago on the first part of a $2.5 million renovation of the 125-year-old chapel. This summer, workers have been removing the slate tile from the roof and shoring up the [...] Read More

Alumni give $50,000 to King Chapel

Three alumni have pledged a total of $50,000 toward the renovation Cornell College’s historic King Chapel, the centerpiece of campus. Joanne Findley ’50 of Macomb, Ill. has pledged $25,000, as have Mark Hanawalt ’74 and his wife, Barbara Norton Hanawalt ’74 of Waverly, Iowa. Their gifts will help the college’s $2.5 million restoration of the [...] Read More

Gift of $25,000 for the Career Center in The Commons

Sydney Smith Hicks ’69 has pledged $25,000 for the Career Center in The Commons, in honor of her parents, David W. and Elizabeth A. Smith. The Commons opened during the spring of Hicks’ freshman year at Cornell College. Before that, students ate in one of two residence halls, separating the student body in half. Once [...] Read More

Anonymous gift of $200,000 to establish scholarship

A class of 1956 alumnus has given Cornell College $200,000 to create an endowed scholarship for Kirkwood Community College students transferring to Cornell. The donors wish to remain anonymous. The scholarship will benefit Kirkwood students transferring to Cornell College who are members of Phi Theta Kappa, the nation’s premiere honor society for two-year colleges. “This [...] Read More

Cornell gets grant to preserve King Chapel

The State Historical Society has awarded Cornell College $100,000 challenge grant for the restoration of King Chapel, the iconic 19th-century building that dominates Mount Vernon’s skyline. The Historic Site Preservation Grant is set to fund repairs to the chapel’s roof, walls and masonry, including tying together the east and west walls, repointing the attic walls, [...] Read More

Boyers pledge $50,000 to Cornell campaign

MOUNT VERNON – As a Cornell College student in the 1980s, Gilda Boyer received extra financial aid and work-study when her parents both lost their jobs, thanks to the generosity of alumni. Now she and her Cornell classmate and husband, Barry Boyer, are giving back for a new generation of students. The Boyers have pledged [...] Read More

McLennans give $1 million to create Cornell College Chicago center

MOUNT VERNON —Bob McLennan ’65 and Becky Martin McLennan ’64 of Chicago have pledged $1 million in order to establish the McLennan Center in Chicago, a Cornell College satellite facility that will accommodate off-campus courses that will service the school’s distinctive One Course At A Time calendar. “We wanted to do something, and we wanted [...] Read More

Cornell Class of 1959 donates $220,000 to renovate historic King Chapel, annual fund

MOUNT VERNON – As part of their 50th reunion gift, the Cornell College class of 1959 has donated over $220,000 in cash and pledges to the college for King Chapel renovations and the annual fund. “This gift represents the class’s commitment not only to the ongoing budget of the college, but to King Chapel and [...] Read More

Trustee donates $200,000 to Cornell College to fund Commons project, Pre-Law

MOUNT VERNON – Cornell College trustee and alumna Sheryl Atkinson Stoll ’70 says she owes much of her success to her alma mater. Now, Cornell students can say they owe much of their success to Sheryl Stoll. Stoll and her husband William have donated $200,000 to Cornell in support of the Pre-Law Program she helped create and [...] Read More

Mellon Foundation awards $316,000 for Environmental Studies

MOUNT VERNON – The Environmental Studies Program at Cornell College has been awarded a $316,000 grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to enhance curriculum and further interdisciplinary study. The funds will be used to enhance integration of existing courses, develop field courses in Latin America, help introduce new courses, and to create a capstone [...] Read More

Former Cornell basketball player donates $25,000 to Ram athletics

MOUNT VERNON – A $25,000 gift from Jim Hughes ’63 will support athletic programs and will help refurbish the Richard and Norma Small Multi-Sport Center. Hughes has been a longtime supporter of Cornell, giving steadily for years. He said he had always planned to give back to Cornell in a big way. “Cornell’s always had [...] Read More

Cornell receives grant to support environmental studies

MOUNT VERNON – Cornell College is pleased to announce that it has received a grant from the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation. Cornell College will receive $10,000 per year for up to five years and an additional stock gift. The gift will provide funding for Cornell’s environmental studies program. “This is an exceptional gift from an [...] Read More

Anonymous donor gifts $100,000

MOUNT VERNON – A class of 1967 alumnus has pledged an unrestricted gift of $100,000 to Cornell College as the Extraordinary Opportunities Campaign nears its $92 million goal. The donor wished the gift to remain anonymous, but encourages other alumni and friends to step forward during this crucial juncture in the college’s history. As an [...] Read More

Durhams donate $250,000 to Commons project

MOUNT VERNON — A $250,000 gift from Tom and the Rev. Martha Hemenway Durham will help provide a much-needed face-lift to the center point of Cornell College, The Commons. The Durhams are both Cornell graduates of the late 1970s, just over 10 years after The Commons opened. Now, 30 years later, the couple saw a [...] Read More

Pfeiffer…finished

On Wednesday, January 28, as most students were relaxing, heading home, or otherwise enjoying block break, nearly 160 students were moving into the newest residence hall on campus. Pfeiffer. While not new in the truest sense of the word, there’s very little about Pfeiffer that’s old. New rooms, new stairs, a new lounge, improved temperature [...] Read More

McGranes gift $550,000 for President’s house, programs

MOUNT VERNON – A $550,000 gift from Cornell alumni John McGrane and Martha (Marty) Benson McGrane will renovate the President’s house, provide for a number of other campus programs, and acquire property for Cornell’s future growth. The McGranes both graduated from Cornell in 1973. John is a partner with the law firm of Morgan, Lewis [...] Read More

Class of 1958 endows environmental studies

MOUNT VERNON – As part of their 50th reunion gift, the Cornell College class of 1958 has donated over $677,000 in cash, pledges, and planned gifts to Cornell to endow the environmental studies program and to fund a scholarship in environmental studies. The gift honors long-time geology professor Herb Hendriks, who started one of the [...] Read More

Whitsons leave $2.5 million to Cornell scholarship in son’s name

MOUNT VERNON – A $2.5 million estate gift will further endow a Cornell College scholarship in honor of an alumnus who died of leukemia in 1974. Lee and Dorothy Whitson, whose son Frank Whitson graduated from Cornell in 1970, established the Frank N. Whitson Memorial Scholarship Fund after the death of their only child in [...] Read More

Emeritus professor donates for Cornell chaplain, chapel

MOUNT VERNON – A $60,000 gift from Linda and Truman Jordan, professor emeritus of chemistry, will help endow the Cornell College chaplain position and further improvements to King Chapel. Jordan is an honorary alumnus of Cornell who began his career at Cornell in 1966. He was granted emeritus status in 2002 and has remained active [...] Read More

Wallace is first Presidential Fellow

Internationally renowned playwright Naomi Wallace will be the first Presidential Fellow at Cornell College this year, teaching Playwriting II in the first month. The Presidential Fellows program seeks to bring leading scholars to campus to teach a course that enriches the curriculum. Because of the One-Course-At-A-Time calendar, scholars can teach an entire course in 3 [...] Read More

Alumnus donates memorial for wife to Cornell College

MOUNT VERNON – A Cornell alumnus has donated $250,000 to the King Chapel renovation in honor of his late wife, Ruth “Gussie” Ohlsen Warden. Charles Warden and his wife both graduated from Cornell in 1941. Charles went on to a successful career in law and real estate. The gift will fund the Ruth Ohlsen Warden [...] Read More

Alumna’s history with chapel draws donation

MOUNT VERNON – A Cornell alumna’s $130,000 donation will help renovate Cornell College’s historic King Chapel and repair the aging organ. Lois Wilkinson Sieben, a 1938 graduate of Cornell, learned to play the organ and the piano at the college, and went on to become a church organist and piano teacher. King Chapel will be [...] Read More

Alumni gift will enhance Cornell College endowment

MOUNT VERNON – A $500,000 gift from Cornell alumni Dick and Beth Brubaker will help grow the Cornell College endowment fund, bring speakers to campus, create more opportunities for student off-campus study, and improve athletic facilities. Dick Brubaker, a 1955 graduate and the founder of Richwrap Inc., is in his third year as chair of [...] Read More

$2 million gift will create endowed chair

MOUNT VERNON – A $2 million planned gift from Cornell alumna Jean Russell will create an endowed faculty chair at Cornell College and support other campus priorities. Russell graduated from Cornell College in 1965 and worked at Washington University in St. Louis in the Department of Medicine, the School of Dental Medicine, and the Division [...] Read More

Cornell parent, life trustee donates $1 million for admission center

MOUNT VERNON – A $1 million gift from Cornell parent and life trustee Peter Paul Luce will expand and modernize Cornell College’s admission center. Luce, of Englewood, Colo., connected with Cornell when his daughter Lynn was drawn to Cornell’s One-Course-At-A-Time calendar. Luce served Cornell as a trustee when Lynn began at Cornell in 1989. He [...] Read More