Rawlings GS '70 named Acting President of Cornell

Hunter Rawlings III GS ’70 was unanimously appointed the Acting President of Cornell University by the school's Board of Trustees on Mar.24.

Cornell’s thirteenth PresidentElizabeth Garrett, the first woman to hold the position, passed away on Mar. 6 from colon cancer after eight months in office. Cornell has announced an international search for the university’s next president in the coming months, with Rawlings serving in interim capacity starting April 25 until that individual takes office.

In accepting the position of Interim President, Rawlings stated in a pressreleasethat it was an honor to once again be called to help lead Cornell.

“There is much momentum around [Elizabeth Garrett’s] vision, and I will work with [Provost Michael Kotlikoff], the leadership team, deans, faculty, students and staff across our campuses to continue building the university’s strengths around those priorities,” he added.

Rawlings did not respond to request for comment.

Cornell Board of Trustees Chairman Robert Harrison stated in aspeechannouncing Rawlings’ appointment that Cornell was fortunate that he had agreed to step forward once again to lead during a time of transition.

“The Board’s unanimous vote is evidence of the respect for his leadership at Cornell and as one of the nation’s premier advocates for higher education,” he noted.

John Carberry, senior director of Cornell’s Media Relations, declined to comment.

At Princeton, Rawlings earned his doctorate in Classics.

Michael Flower, director of Graduate Studies for the Classics Department, did not respond to a request for comment.

Rawlings, professor emeritus of classics at Cornell, had previously served as the school’s tenth President from 1995 to 2003. In 2005-06, he served as interim president following the resignation of Cornell’s eleventh President Jeffrey Lehman.

During his previous term as President, Rawlings was committed to “composing Cornell,” organizing the diverse pieces of Cornell to work more effectively together. This was primarily done through initiatives conducted to strengthen the undergraduate schools, including reforming Cornell’s need-blind admission policy to encourage student diversity, establishing North Campus as a residential and learning environment for freshmen, forming the new West Campus residential colleges and creating the Cornell Presidential Research Scholars program, which was named in his honor.

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Internationally, Rawlings strengthened school’s Weill Cornell Medical College, establishing a new branch in Qatar and helped establish an academic exchange with Tsinghua University and Peking University. He also helped to finalize constructing the Beijing portion of Cornell’s undergraduate major in China and Asia Pacific Studies.

Rawlings had also served as the President of the University of Iowa from 1988-1995, President of the Association of American Universities since June 2011 and as chair of the Ivy Council of Presidents.