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Cornell Fellows Program:
Bringing Students and Distinguished Alumni Together
Written by Leslie H. Garner Jr.
“One-Course-At-A-Time was the ideal system for allowing me to have an education-to-work experience—an internship. Because of this internship, the specific work experience, and the specific project analysis, I was able to differentiate myself from all the other liberal arts grads. In fact, my first two jobs required an MBA, which I didn’t have.”
Dean Riesen ’79
Introduction
Mission
Personal Experience
There are Cornell alumni worldwide doing every sort of job imaginable. For each of these alumni, there is a Cornell student interested in that job or field. This fall the college is initiating a program to link distinguished alumni with talented Cornell students in internship endeavors that will make a real difference in the lives and future careers of those students. We’re calling it the Cornell Fellows Program.
This program is one of five new initiatives we are pursuing as Cornell College moves beyond its first 150 years. We are developing academic initiatives in three areas—health professions, economics and business, and a “learning exchange” to integrate academic support services in the library. The two initiatives to enrich academics will focus on internships (Cornell Fellows Program) and distinguished visitors. Each of these initiatives responds to needs in society, builds on our strengths, and distinguishes us in important ways from other colleges. Each will be the topic of a white paper in this series.
Mission
This Cornell Fellows Program has been developed through the vision of Cornell Trustee Dean Riesen ’79 and is being implemented this fall under the leadership of Dr. James Brown, special assistant to the president. Its mission is to provide a unique spectrum of career experiences and mentoring beyond those available in the classroom. This program will assist Cornell students in acquiring a highly useful understanding of the relationships between classroom theories and real-life applications and to develop a sharpened knowledge of their personal abilities and values, preparing them to pursue a lifetime of professional service and leadership.
The program will match alumni experiences and connections with student interests and needs and provide the funding to compensate students while they are interning—thus relieving the sponsoring organization of this responsibility and attracting more organizations. The program will provide the necessary administrative support to match jobs, funders, and students.
Cornell students will benefit not only from exposure to professional role models and exemplary leaders in their future career fields, but at a formative moment in their lives students will have the opportunity to participate in the transforming experience of the workplace. At the same time, corporations, agencies, and institutions will benefit from working with students educated in the liberal arts tradition. Students, who will be expected to complete a substantial project as part of their internship, can provide analyses from the viewpoint of a young, ambitious, currently trained student, and can provide a revealing look at a prospective employee. As a result of their fellowships, students will be more attractive to potential employers and to quality graduate programs, and they will be better prepared to assume leadership roles in their future career fields.
Personal experience
Dean proposed the Cornell Fellows Program based on a transforming personal experience. He had the opportunity to participate in a student internship during his senior year at Cornell under One-Course-At-A-Time. The experience laid the groundwork for a highly successful and fulfilling career. To provide a similar experience for current outstanding Cornell students, Dean proposed the Cornell Fellows Program to the Board of Trustees in February 2004. He has also generously supported the annual budget for the program.
At Opening Convocation earlier this fall, Dean spoke about how Cornell prepared him for life. As an entrepreneur, he embraced One-Course-At-A-Time when it was introduced his senior year. He saw it as the ideal system for testing his theories in a work environment full time for a month. In fact, he did two internships. First, as a political science major, he worked on Professor Nick Berry’s state Senate campaign with advisor Craig Allin. Later, he secured an internship in finance at Rockwell International, now Rockwell Collins, in Cedar Rapids. He took on a financial analysis project the company had never been able to address. The project doubled as his senior thesis in economics. Because of his internship and analysis project, Dean said, he stood out when it was time to interview for jobs. He was hired for a position that required an MBA.
Dean has seen that internships aren’t just important in business. He was impressed after serving on a panel with Dr. Kathleen Braddy ’92, who believes her internship at the Mount Vernon Medical Clinic made a difference in getting accepted into medical school.
The Cornell Fellows Program is going to start this year with 12 fellows, but we envision it growing large, taking advantage of a calendar that allows the student to intern full time without committing an entire semester or summer. Through a highly selective application process, a strong alumni and professional network, faculty involvement, and aggressive promotion of the program, we plan to make the Cornell Fellows Program a distinctive and highly regarded aspect of a Cornell education. It will set Cornell apart just as it will set our graduates apart.
I appreciate your confidence in Cornell and welcome your reaction to the ideas in his White Paper. Please let me know what you think about Cornell’s newest initiative. If you would like to be involved, we are looking for people to identify internship opportunities and for patrons to provide funding. I look forward to hearing from you.
Leslie H. Garner Jr.
President
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