100 Years of the Cornell - Rochester Connection
Foreword (2004)
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It’s my good fortune to be the President of the Cornell Alumni Association of Greater Rochester in this milestone one-hundredth year.
A centennial demands a look back and so we present an anecdotal history in this booklet. A centennial is also an occasion that prompts a look to the future. That’s a daunting task for two reasons.
First, predictions are bound to be imperfect and future readers will mostly delight in pointing out exactly how wrong those predictions turn out to be. I’ll go out on a limb and venture that our organization will continue to play an important role in enhancing the connections between Cornell University and Rochester, New York.
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Secondly, it’s always easier to see the golden age as sometime in the past, most often occurring just before you arrived on the scene. Looking through the distinguished history of Cornell alumni in Rochester, it’s easy for me to see many golden ages past. During the last century we’ve presented innumerable Cornell- related social, cultural and recreational events in Rochester. We’ve hosted hundreds of faculty and administration speakers, raised many thousands of dollars in scholarship funds and presented them to hundreds of area Cornell students. More than 6,000 high school juniors have written essays for our annual competition. Area alumni have donated countless hours to a wide range of community service projects. Fortunately, these activities are all still going strong, so it’s too early to for anything other than a running tally.
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So, we can try to define a grand vision for the future. We can dwell on the glorious parade of history. Or we can simply take the time to pause here in the present and do a proper job of celebrating this moment with the friends we’ve come to know and cherish through our connections to Cornell.
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We take pride in our fellow alumni who contribute to the life of the greater Rochester community in so many ways. We each bring something of our Cornell experience to our businesses, organizations, churches, neighborhoods, friends and families. Like our University, we draw our strength from a great diversity of backgrounds, interests and talents.
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We became alumni the moment we received our diplomas, but every great university develops connections with it’s graduates that grow stronger through the years. Alumni groups that cut across the generations bring that concept into sharp focus. In Rochester, I’ve met Cornellians who were in Ithaca during the same four years that I was there, but I never knew them during my time on the hill. I’ve met many others who I could not have known in Ithaca because their time occurred decades before or decades after mine. The cross-generation connections are one of the greatest strengths of our organization. The Rochester club manages to reflect the unique character of Cornell through the prism of time. Like many alumni groups, we benefit greatly from the friendships that have developed across multiple generations of Cornellians gathered in one place to share the uncommon experience of Cornell.
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Our proximity to Ithaca helps Rochester-area alumni stay connected with the University. At the same time, we have just enough distance to provide some perspective and perhaps an even greater appreciation for the impact that our Cornell connections have for us.
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Ezra Cornell in his dealings with Hiram Sibley in the formation of Western Union must have traveled the roads between Ithaca and Rochester many times. We can make the trip a little faster now, but still the journey along the shoreline roads of Cayuga Lake is a journey home in either direction - home to Ithaca and home to Rochester.
Thomas L. Cummings ‘75
President, Cornell Alumni Association of Greater Rochester
Rochester, New York 2004
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