Giving to the College
Fundraising needs are drawn from our college's Academic Priorities. These needs are based on our commitment to 1) Land-Grant Mission; 2) Applied Social Sciences; 3) Environmental Sciences; and 4) New Life Sciences.
There are a number of opportunities for alumni, parents, friends, corporations, and foundations to be involved with CALS and to provide financial support for the College's continued strength and growth in supporting our Academic Priorities.
The Cornell Annual Fund for CALS
The Cornell Annual Fund for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences provides essential annual support for the College's teaching, research and extension activities. Dean Susan Henry relies on unrestricted gifts to the Cornell Annual Fund for CALS to meet ongoing expenses such as the enhancement of student computing facilities, as well as one-time needs such as initial funding for new teaching initiatives or seed money for faculty research.
In the past, unrestricted gifts to CALS through the Cornell Annual Fund have:
- Helped to renovate laboratories for plant genomics in Emerson Hall.
- Helped Dean Susan A. Henry sponsor a one-credit course on Global Terrorism after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
- Helped to bring high caliber guest lecturers from national and international businesses to campus for the Undergraduate Business Program.
The Cornell Annual Fund for the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is a part of Cornell University's overall giving program. An unrestricted gift to CALS also counts as a gift to the Cornell Fund and for class, reunion or Tower Club credit.
College Fundraising Priorities
The Cornell Undergraduate Business Program
It has been called AG ECON, ARME and AEM, however regardless of what it was once titled, it has been declared the official Undergraduate Business Program for Cornell University and it is located in the Department of Applied Economics and Management.
The College of Agriculture and Life Sciences recently surpassed its $20 million goal for the Undergraduate Business Program by raising $20.3 million.
To find out more about the Undergraduate Business Program and its Campaign, including named giving opportunities and how to make a gift, please click here or contact Mike Riley at 607-255-0359 or e-mail mpr2@cornell.edu.
CALS and the New Life Sciences Initiative
CALS has a dramatic breadth of life scientists exploring plant, animal, human, and microbial systems, with supporting excellence in the social and physical sciences. Our faculty conduct basic and applied research on food supply, food safety, nutrition, health, the environment, business, and the economy, yet, at the same time, emphasize very basic studies in genetics, developmental biology, neuroscience, and molecular and cell biology. CALS faculty also conscientiously and responsibly explore the ethical, legal, and social issues involved in new life sciences technologies, seeking to inform the dialogue among scientists and the public. For these reasons, the college has assumed a leading role in the campus-wide New Life Sciences Initiative. —Susan Henry, the Ronald P. Lynch Dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
The New Life Sciences Initiative is a university-wide collaboration to develop and launch a multiyear, $600-million campaign that will enhance and support life sciences research and education. It is the most far-reaching research initiative in Cornell history and a top university priority. Steve Tanksley, CALS professor of plant breeding, has played a leadership role in conceptualizing and advancing this initiative.
CALS and Celebrate Cornell Faculty
Cornell's outstanding faculty change students' lives. Faculty in CALS are not only world leaders in research, but their impact on students through undergraduate advising and teaching is also far-reaching.
A forthcoming wave of retirements will place new pressure on Cornell to attract and retain the very best teachers, researchers, and scholars. To meet this challenge, the university seeks to raise $200 million in endowment funds through Celebrate Cornell Faculty.
Graduate Support - Financial assistance for graduate study---particularly for Ph.D. programs---is critical to ensure that Cornell continues to attract outstanding graduate students from around the world. An endowed graduate fellowship becomes a permanent tribute to the person whose name it bears. These fellowship endowments can be designated for research or teaching and can be used for schooling, travel, or special projects connected to the students area of study.
Undergrad Research - There is an amazing variety and quantity of research being conducted in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. It covers both basic and applied research in agriculture, food and nutrition, life sciences, environmental sciences, and the social and behavioral sciences. CALS undergraduate students are often part of this research, joining teams composed of some combination of faculty members, graduate students, post-doctoral students, and others.
To learn more about these giving opportunities, please contact Mike Riley at 607-255-0359 or mpr2@cornell.edu.
As one of twenty unit libraries in the Cornell University system, the Albert R. Mann Library supports the instruction, research, and extension programs of Cornell University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and College of Human Ecology. Close to a million volumes are housed in Mann’s shelves, and every month an average of 75,000 uses are made of some part of Mann’s facilities. Mann’s collection is richly comprehensive in the disciplines related to the study of agriculture and the life sciences. It is the largest land grant library collection in the agricultural sciences and is second in size only to the National Agricultural Library in Beltsville, Md. The library’s special collections in areas such as poultry science and beekeeping are the most comprehensive in the world, and include some of the oldest and rarest treatises of these disciplines. Mann has also made pioneering breakthroughs in the provision of electronic information services, making a wide impact on the global research community as researchers from Albany to Zimbabwe access Mann’s acclaimed digital collections every day. From students who applaud Mann’s inviting study spaces and earth-friendly duplex-printing capabilities to faculty who marvel at the profound effect that the library’s extensive online journal collection has had on their ability to teach basic science, Mann’s patrons are consistently enthusiastic about the services and resources they find in this pivotal research and learning center on the upper campus.
From 1997 to 1999 the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and the College of Human Ecology undertook the Mann Library Endowment Campaign, the library's first campaign in its nearly 50-year history. The campaign helped to raise critical endowment funding and gave the library a strong start in protecting its collections and services from the erosive effects of increasingly tight state budget constraints. Mann's friends have found that giving to the library can be a wonderful way to support the College’s research and learning mission while recognizing loved ones and honored colleagues. To learn more about making a gift to Mann Library, please click here.
Each CALS department has a Department Excellence Fund, an endowment that generates annual income to meet a variety of annual needs within the department.
To make a gift to a CALS department or other unit, or to an existing fund in the college, see the Cornell University secure online gift form.
Also, read about specific CALS Department Initiatives.
Cornell Cooperative Extension's mission is perhaps the most public manifestation of the status of Cornell University as New York State's land-grant institution. CCE is jointly administered by the Colleges of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Human Ecology.
The Cornell Cooperative Extension educational system enables people to improve their lives and communities through partnerships that put experience and research knowledge to work.
To learn more about the funding needs of Cornell Cooperative Extension, please contact Glenn J. Applebee at (607)-255-2292 or via e-mail at gja4@cornell.edu To make a gift to Cornell Cooperative Extension, click here.
For additional information regarding any of these fundraising priorities, please contact:
Mike Riley
Assistant Dean for Alumni Affairs, Development, and Communications
College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
274 Roberts Hall
Ithaca, NY 14853 607-255-0359
mpr2@cornell.edu