‘Human Ecology’ (Colleges of), Psychology, and Cornell. Why The History of the American University System Still Matters.
Post title with shortlink, started Feb. 17, 2018, published March 4:
‘Human Ecology’ (Colleges of), Psychology, and Cornell. Why The History of the American University System Still Matters. (shortlink ending “-8F5”) Post is short (about 6,100 words — can you believe it?!)
Subtitle: Some Historic Problems and Design Flaws — or Inherent Design Genius, depending on one’s perspective — with The American University System.
Here, I discuss where “Colleges of Human Ecology and the intent to “develop” human beings from the start,” based on theories from high-profile psychologists such as the late Urie Bronfenbrenner (whom Cornell University’s center named in his honor credits for having founded, or inspired the massive “Head Start” programming itself), funded through their faculty positions meets “the imported university models” meets the “current US size and tax system” (university financing).
Tags: I added labels (“tags”) for topics in this post, and included this one — though it’s not discussed below — because the post discussing it is related: “FAF Financial Accounting Foundation (estab. by AICPA ca.1971 Norwalk CT set up GASB+FASB who set the guidelines=acctg rules)(see also “CAFRs”)
Regardless of one’s perspective, the American universities both private and public still have a basic design. That design for each has been historically based on a certain model espoused by their founders, reflecting their values and what kind of economic infrastructure those founders wanted for the country.
MORRILL LAND-GRANT ACTS
(Reference added March 5, 2018): Why the Morrill Act Still Matters, July 16, 2012 by Christopher P. Loss in The Chronicle of Higher Education. Added here because it’s a short narrative and for the 19 comments below arguing pro/con the whole situation. The comments are generally well-written and interesting.
Basics: Please read (for review, or if it’s not review) Wikipedia on the Morrill Land-Grant Acts. These involved federal lands to establish state college right about the time of the Civil War (!) and after the Confederate states had seceded (although they later got theirs, too). On that article, Cornell’s situation is in paragraphs 7 and 10. Paras. 6, 7 and 10 quoted here. Relates to Cornell and MIT.
Under the act, each eligible state received a total of 30,000 acres (120 km2) of federal land, either within or contiguous to its boundaries, for each member of congress the state had as of the census of 1860. This land, or the proceeds from its sale, was to be used toward establishing and funding the educational institutions described above. Under provision six of the Act, “No State while in a condition of rebellion or insurrection against the government of the United States shall be entitled to the benefit of this act,” in reference to the recent secession of several Southern states and the contemporaneously raging American Civil War.
After the war, however, the 1862 Act was extended to the former Confederate states; it was eventually extended to every state and territory, including those created after 1862. If the federal land within a state was insufficient to meet that state’s land grant, the state was issued “scrip” which authorized the state to select federal lands in other states to fund its institution.[7] For example, New York carefully selected valuable timber land in Wisconsin to fund Cornell University.[8]p. 9 The resulting management of this scrip by the university yielded one third of the total grant revenues generated by all the states, even though New York received only one-tenth of the 1862 land grant.[8]p. 10 Overall, the 1862 Morrill Act allocated 17,400,000 acres (70,000 km2) of land, which when sold yielded a collective endowment of $7.55 million.[8]p. 8
…With a few exceptions (including Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), nearly all of the land-grant colleges are public. (Cornell University, while private, administers several state-supported contract colleges that fulfill its public land-grant mission to the state of New York.)
To maintain their status as land-grant colleges, a number of programs are required to be maintained by the college. These include programs in agriculture and engineering, as well as a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program
This situation, as Wikipedia tells it, also supplanted a more egalitarian (among the states) and earlier “Turner Act,” giving preference for the then more populous eastern states. Overall, the federal lands represent land grabs from Native Americans originally, anyhow, so a case could be made that the entire situation is based on theft and land-grabs. Anyhow….
Further explained: Please see my “Understanding University Models” Preface. It has fewer than 1,000 words and exists here just to make a few key points:
Wikipedia on the Morrill Land-Grant Acts also references the changeover from “English” to “German” style of university:
Before the Civil War American engineers were mostly educated at West Point. While the Congressional debate associated with the Morrill Act was largely focused on benefits to agriculture, the mechanic arts were specifically included. After the Civil War, as the German University model began to replace the English College, with the encouragement of the Morrill Act the engineering discipline was gradually defined. Because the Morrill Act excluded spending on buildings, engineering[-]specific infrastructure such as textbooks and laboratories were developed.** In 1866 there were around 300 American men with engineering degrees and six reputable colleges granting them. By 1911 the United States was graduating 3000 engineers a year, and had a total of 38,000 degreed engineers. The Morrill Act coincided with the establishment of engineering in the American university.[11]
**”was developed” omits how, including how financed…
There are many links, but I found a single book helpful as a reminder of who historically was organizing and structuring the universities before and after the U.S. Civil War (talking, 1860s…). “The Design of the University: German, American and World Class“by Heinz-Dieter Meyer (Routledge, Oct. 4, 2016).
Its “Google Book preview” format is not the easiest to read but still presents a helpful narrative of the origins of famous American (US) universities and their patrician (including new wealth from industrialization + old wealth, such as around Boston) founders, delegation by those founders of university boards of directors/trustees, and of leadership and financing, and how it became fashionable among that class to endow or delegate the running of universities as a part of the duty stemming from their social position.
With the new wealth of those times stemmed from business enterprises, it’s inevitable that concern for continuing those enterprises (whether telegraph, railroads, textiles, or other) as part of the social good and of their individual and progeny’s retained inheritances would be involved.
Later, when workers were taxed (for their own good and a social safety net…), these universities, if private, acquired TAX EXEMPT STATUS … The status “tax-exempt” is only relevant in regards taxes — and these universities pre-dated the tax system — and with it, incorporation practices — we have today, starting in the early 1900s.
Now, well over a hundred years later for most key American universities, directors and benefactors’ collective concerns strategically and systematically bypasses practice, such as transparency NOW in university financing, at the detailed level, and accessible to “commoners” which might still alter that system of patronage, seems to be still limited by the intent to keep the wealth and decision-making in similar hands, by “similar,” I still refer to social classes. By “commoners” I mean generally, (wage-earners=tax-payers, “consumers” of government services including those out of necessity on on welfare; and providing this access on-line being the basic standard now).
Our university systems, private and/or public are: massive, likely here to stay, heavily funded, and politically influential.
Besides understanding how government is financed** (that means, read some “CAFRs” and their organizational charts, “Management Discussion & Analysis” and “Notes,” and notice which local (or any other) governments, including K-12 school districts and many other districts, or JPAs (such as WestEd) (!), are just not posting them visibly or discussing them whenever the topic of “budgets” comes up)…
- CAFRs typically should be under an Office of the Comptroller (here’s New York State‘s listing reports back to 2003; here’s NYS CAFR FYE March, 2017) but I’ve seen them for other entities (like the Broward County Public Schools (School District), Florida of recent dramatic headline news), squirreled away under strange access paths. CAFRs must declare (by GFOA standards, if they’re complying) who or what is, and is not, for example if the filing entity is New York State, “the State.” Doing so provides clues to what existing entities have other resources, and reports that may be mistakenly assumed to be “the State.”
- I’ve posted detailed breakout of a California CAFR on this blog, and am resisting the temptation to use more examples from New York’s. NY’s seems well organized and visually easy to understand (so far as I looked at the introduction).
- When news articles, or politicans’ declarations, then about the state resources, or school budgets, are expressed correctly in terms of CAFR — and the public, ignorant of the situation, thinks it includes the whole panorama of resources when it doesn’t — who’s the loser? When fees are going to increase, or taxation, or services reduced on the basis of what the filing entity ONLY reports, but much more exists outside of it — those that will be paying. It’s a matter of vocabulary and usage — and accounting terminology/practices.
Daniel Coit Gilman per Britannica’com (viewed & annotated 3/4/2018)
…readers would do well to notate what university model has been in operation historically and current and of recently developed terminology, such as “translational” used at the “Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research” under Cornell’s College of Human Ecology, and as I reported earlier (Oct. 2017 post), under the U.S. Dept. of HHS/NIH, “NCATS“–the “National Center on Advancing Translational Science” formed only in 2012.
My interest in the Bronfenbrenner center and in general, in influential psychologists as part of the family court landscape, led me to again look up the founders of Cornell (Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White) and their friend (Univ. of Michigan, Univ. of California, and eventually Johns Hopkins in Baltimore) Daniel Coit Gilman (<==Encyclopedia Britannica Profile. Pls. read now for timeframe and because it’s a concise summary. ).
Cornell has a unique position in many way and spans both public and private sectors (some of its colleges are “land-grant”) BUT “Cornell University” is, literally, still a single, private nonprofit corporation. A twelve-billion-dollar (assets) 501©3 with many related entities, yes — but as a financially reporting tax-exempt, a single 501©3 with no “subsidiaries.” Whatever its many related entities (tax returns show them), as a reporting entity, “Cornell University” is definitely a nonprofit: tax-exempt, “501©3” — EIN# 15-0532082 (above three annotated tax return images, also see end of this post).
That also makes it private, not public, with the complication that four of its colleges are part of “SUNY (State University of New York, that is, land-grant colleges/and receiving yearly state appropriations because of that). When it comes to audited financial statements, it will not be producing according to the government (“CAFR”) standard, but to the private. They may also be harder to find.
Design of the Univ, by Heinz-Dieter Meyer (cover)
Table of Contents excerpt – more images below from Chapter #6 will be shown)
Again, this post’s title with shortlink, as started 2/17/2018, elsewhere:*
‘Human Ecology’ (Colleges of), Psychology, and Cornell. Why The History of the American University System Still Matters. (shortlink ending “-8F5”)
*That “elsewhere” (this addition wasn’t helping it, as originally intended, get published in “lean, mean, contextually-appropriate and tightly constructed” format), now published, is here:
This post was originally a parking spot for information intended to summarize what I’d already, and years ago as well as again, for a refresher, learned regarding the origins of Cornell University as a land-grant-endowed + privately endowed university modeled, basically, after the German/European standard.
It may not be all new information (some will be I’m sure) but is worth remembering as we look at the current economic and academic landscapes. I found it very interesting to read about, again.
More Preview, Quick Reflections:
Cornell admitted women early on (though in limited places), and its unique origins have to do with some of the collegial dialogues among, as it’s told, three influential men, one more associated (eventually) with Johns Hopkins University.
From Cornell’s College of Human Ecology TIMELINE, see 1907 — Dept. of Home Economics established under College of Agriculture (one of the land-grant colleges), then 1919 School of Home Economics, and in 1925, Legislature assigns it NY State College of Home Economics. However after WWII, and with help from Alfred P. Sloan, it gets yet another name.
From Cornell’s College of Human Ecology TIMELINE 1936-2000. Notice it became the NY State College of Human Ecology, AFTER National Head Start program began.
How odd that the developmental-psychology driven center named after Russian-born, but lived and worked (most of?) his life at Cornell Yurie Bronfenbrenner played a role in an entire college’s name change to the College of Human Ecology; that Bronfenbrenner, working with Stephen J. Ceci (also at Cornell), while Ceci shared a joint APA award with the well-known Elizabeth F. Loftus, known for her work on the malleability of memory, and early (1970s) work to discredit the testimony of child witnesses…False Memory Foundation, etc.
Women were getting into the college programs at Cornell, and (but apparently being funneled into certain fields. Once Alfred P. Sloan help with an endowment gets in there (1957), it’s about “Public Administration” — not Home Economics (returning veterans, G.I. Bill, etc.)… As the images say, women who involved in the early 20th century, including at Cornell, had a major role in “the development of the welfare state.”
Just thinking aloud (the context of Cornell, Dr. Loftus whose early success (1970s) came in large part from research protecting those accused of child sexual abuse, by the children in later life (etc.).
….Does this have anything to do with why women in such roles still are often so very controlling and ready to dominate mothers perhaps not so scientifically schooled in progressive or politically correct “motherhood”? … with the realm of psychology as blended into the family court system (whether these women may be judges, attorneys, or custody evaluators, mediators, etc.) ??
Are such professional women in these fields (psychology/social work & the law, which includes by association, judges) still defending the hard-won turf and created market niches (the family court systems)?
Collectively, women having been stomped down as women for decades preceding and after even getting the vote, barely getting into Ivy League colleges as equals (undergraduate) until more than halfway through the 1900s (i.e., the 1970s), it seems that even now, fifty to nearly seventy-five years later (after 1924, women’s suffrage in the U.S.), mothers NOT subjecting their children to the ‘modern welfare state” in all regards are subject to targeting for forced submission — or “excommunication” from raising their own kids — in order to leave this part of the “power block” available to those who came in it through these routes?
Not that the men also weren’t controlling, but when it comes to “who’s aligned with whom,” gender is no longer the only indicator, but it seems some professions, while occupied now more often by women, are not inclined to support women OUTside them when it comes to things “family.”
As this section heading says, “More preview, quick reflections,” not established or formal hypothesis.
The paragraphs on Bronfenbrenner (1917-2005, see Britannica.com’s 2016 article,## subtitled, “Russian-Born American Psychologist” ) who spent fifty years teaching at Cornell University relate to my current blogging, and earlier: both reflect my concerns about the obsession with training and “producing” certain kinds of human beings through outside-in management of the environments — and focusing university-level (undergraduate and graduate) educations towards this goal, and the elitist, UNdemocratic processes of funneling public moneys obtained.
##(by Livia L. Gierstrap, Elizabeth A. Zierten) … A child is viewed as a growing dynamic entity that progressively moves into and restructures an environment. The environment in turn exerts an influence on the individual, requiring a process of reciprocity between person and environment. Moreover, Bronfenbrenner realized that the developmental process varies by place and time and that public policy affects the development of humans by influencing the conditions of their lives.
With American developmental psychologist Stephen J. Ceci, Bronfenbrenner extended his theory to behaviour genetics. They recommended that explicit measures of the environment in systems terms be incorporated, and they proposed the existence of empirically assessable mechanisms—proximal processes through which genetic potentials for effective psychological functioning are actualized. They hypothesized that when proximal processes are weak, genetically based potentials for effective psychological functioning remain relatively unrealized and, as proximal processes increase in magnitude, potentials become actualized to a progressively greater extent… [etc.] || Ceci: {{See Harvard U. Press on his 1996 book”Intelligence“; link added to/not found in Britannica article; he’s at Cornell…}}
Stephen J. Ceci, interviewed at the BPS (British Psychological Society) (APril 2014) revealing that as a graduate student he was enamored of Brit psychologist Michael Howe and ended up doing his doctoral (PhD) work under him at Exeter, and that, having obtained this, a “certain Midwestern state university” took “more than a dim view” of his experiment, he switched jobs (universities), got faster promotion, and has enjoyed 35 years in academia. At this interview (and probably still), in a named chair of developmental psychology. FABBS Society honoring him describes his many publications and places he’s spoken, and summarizes:
Ceci’s major contributions fall into two areas, the reliability of children’s testimony and the bio-ecology of intelligence. In the former, his work with Maggie Bruck is widely cited in both scientific journals and court rulings, including the U.S. Supreme Court. Their integrative analyses in Psychological Bulletin and the Annual Review of Psychology have together been cited over 2,000 times (Google Scholar). Their findings revealed major developmental shifts in children’s report accuracy due to a confluence of social, cognitive, and neurobiological changes that unfold over middle childhood. Their book, Jeopardy in the Courtroom: A scientific Analysis of Children’s Testimony won the APA William James Book Award. Ceci’s research on the bio-ecology of intelligence has produced several classic papers….His work on the effect of schooling on IQ is highly cited as well because it calls into question the traditional view of general intelligence. His overall h index is 64, with ~23,000 cites
I noticed that one of Ceci’s awards mentioned there was shared with Elizabeth Loftus a name which may sound familiar to some of my readers, in re: questioning children’s testimony in court situations:
“The APA 2003 Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award for the Application of Psychology (shared with Elizabeth F. Loftus).” APA = American Psychological Association. Looking this up, I notice it began in 1973, and that: most awardees were to one person, not two; and that, including one married couple (Loren J. [1927-2017] and his wife Jean P. Chapman, “Disordered Thought in Schizophrenia”) Elizabeth Loftus in 2003 was only the fourth woman in 30 years of awards. I see a subsequent one to fathers’ rights activist Michael E. Lamb.
Along with both Chapmans (above), Loftus was on the Advisory Board of the “False Memory Foundation” formed in 1992 around, specifically, claims of recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse. This gets interesting as I read now, how this was started by people affiliated with University of Pennsylvania and Johns Hopkins by:
A group of families and professionals affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and the Johns Hopkins Medical Institution in Baltimore created the False Memory Syndrome Foundation in 1992 because they saw a need for an organization that could document and study the problem of families that were being shattered when adult children suddenly claimed to have recovered repressed memories of childhood sexual abuse. Across the country, parents had been reporting that they had received phone calls and letters accusing them of committing horrifying acts that allegedly had happened decades earlier.
FMS Foundation Advisory Council bio for Elizabeth Loftus (who shared 2003 APA Distinguished Scientific Award for Applications of Psychology with Stephen J. Ceci of Cornell, known in part for his work and theories developed (per Britannica.com on the latter) with Urie Bronfenbrenner.
Loftus’ bio blurb from that source (see image):
“Elizabeth Loftus studies human memory. Her experiments reveal how memories can be changed by things that we are told. Facts, ideas, suggestions and other post-event information can modify our memories. The legal field, so reliant on memories, has been a significant application of the memory research. Loftus is also interested in psychology and law, more generally.”
and from UC Irvine where she is “Distinguished Professor of Sociology, , and Professor of Law, and Cognitive Science,Ph.D. Stanford University.” Wikipedia has a long article on her, reading it may explain the relevance to FamilyCourtMatters and other matters of interest. She was married for 23 yrs to another psychologist, and spent 29 years in her position at the University of Washington, etc. No children are mentioned.
(Cornell’s unique origins and current funding — four of its colleges are “land grant” and get public funding; it was established ,however as a private, nonsectarian institution with funds from the sale of land grants to New York State (in mid-1800s) — and involving:
- Ezra Cornell (Western Union/telegraph wealth;at least read the several short sections on his life here), if it’s unfamiliar.
- Andrew Dickson White (1832-1918) (or see Wikipedia, as quoted (why: much easier viewing, only) as quoted at “IslamForWest” (Jan. 4, 2012 post) for more details, showing his well-connected family heritage) and, from their connections and involvements (though he was at Johns Hopkins), and
- Daniel Coit Gilman (The latter two who were classmates at Yale; the link is a short and interesting account from history.library.UCSF.edu under “Special Topics,” on the founding of the University of California, by Nancy Rockafellar.** Next three images are then RE: Daniel Coit Gilman in context, founding of THE University of California system, first in Oakland. Self-explanatory. He went then from here to Johns Hopkins). I’ll precede with a quote from “1868-1898” section of the same site:
Click image to enlarge or see “1868-1898: The Origins of the U of Calif and Affiliated Colleges,” courtesy History.Library.UCSF.edu
…In the case of medicine, the development of private medical colleges predated the founding of the University of California itself. The Organic Act of 1868 created the University of California and designated 160 acres of land in Berkeley for its use. Section 8 of the Act directed the Board of Regents “to affiliate with the university any incorporated college of medicine or law, or other special course of instruction now existing or may be created.” In 1872, as the structure of the divisions of the University was still under development and buildings were still under construction in Berkeley, a “medical department” was established under the control of physicians in San Francisco. Soon pharmacists moved to affiliate formally. In so doing, they put their instructional programs “on an academic basis” with the support of UC’s first president Daniel Coit Gilman, who promoted the addition of advanced scientific training to the young university. In 1881 the College of Dentistry was created by the Board of Regents as one of the “affiliated colleges” based in San Francisco. The three colleges — medicine, pharmacy, and dentistry — were not mere satellite appendages to Berkeley, however.
The affiliated colleges shaped and bolstered the developing University in many ways. At the turn of the century, the creation of fulltime scientific faculty positions in anatomy, pathology and physiology in connection with the affiliated colleges set a precedent for the University of California’s subsequent leadership in the basic biological sciences and their application to clinical problems. Owing to the consistent support of a long line of UC Presidents, the health sciences remained a significant feature of the public service mandate of the state’s university.
I generally don’t like quoting “Google Books” as they are hard to read in this format, but this one summarizes some of the history of similarities between startups of Yale & Cornell (use of land grant moneys in a private college format), Harvard (building a graduate school on top of an existing college), Johns Hopkins (free-standing graduate school and patrician wealth), and explaining that yes, our present university structure is in many ways modeled off the German model, based on some of the early founders and presidents, and taking into account the newer, wealthy merchant classes (versus, say, ministers) as both patricians and as running them. It was also found on a basic search of the three men’s names and in part to summarize; in part to confirm they are critically associated as universities, including those involving centralized land-grant monies (i.e., a state’s land grant income given to one institution within the state). Harvard and Yale pre-dated NY’s Cornell and Maryland (Baltimore’s) Johns Hopkins.
“The Design of the University: German, American and World Class“by Heinz-Dieter Meyer (Routledge, Oct. 4, 2016 per “About” page). I quoted from Part II, “Contested Designs” before and after the “Boston Brahmins” section. No images shown but those already available in the preview; 10 in all. Gallery format sometimes reverses page order; I hope these are kept in chrono order:
(Realize images aren’t the best quality. I recommend browsing the google book opening statements, and Part II, Chapter 6 (Contested Designs) for general understanding.
When it comes to the realm of psychology, the predilection for the German (or Prussian) model university is a big deal in structuring the (post-civil War) future of American education.
Cornell, unlike many at the time, was also co-educational.
I have some preview paragraphs (images, quotes) of more general background on Cornell, and related to its College of Human Ecology. When you see this title in this exact format (color scheme, words) the second time, below that is the October, 2016 remainder of the post:
FEB. 2018 PREFACE TO OCT. 2016 POST:
Some of this I found looking for when it first admitted women. I didn’t apply to Cornell (long ago) most likely because as a high school graduate, I was focused instead on colleges (such as Eastman School of Music, also in New York/Rochester University) which addressed and were better known for my intended professional major. I had the GPA, probably, for others, but chose instead ones which required not just grades, but a practical and substantial audition, ensuring I’d be among undergraduates/classmates who at least had passed one themselves.
SIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE FROM A UNIQUELY-FUNDED (ORIGINALLY, and NOW) UNIVERSITY WHICH IS, LITERALLY, BOTH PUBLIC AND PRIVATE:
Cornell University: Private or Public? April 4, 2015 in Academics, Alive Campus, Campus Life
Cornell University is a peculiar university in that it is considered a private university, yet happens to be comprised of seven undergraduate colleges, some of which are land grant/state funded colleges. Some will argue that those colleges are SUNY institutions, some will argue that those colleges are public, and some will argue that Cornell is just plain weird. I’ll raise my glass to the latter argument.
As a New Yorker, a student has the ability to receive reduced tuition (roughly $15,000 cheaper) if he is accepted into, and chooses to enroll in, one of the land grant colleges. Some of these colleges include, the School of Industrial and Labor Relations and the College of Human Ecology.
What is now called “the College of Human Ecology” got its name thanks to Urie Bronfenbrenner… It has many corollary concepts, for example, how to best plow, fertilize, nurture, weed, and plan a better, an ideally thriving human being. Was this the first usage of “College of Human Ecology” in the US? I don’t know, however I did notice that many places marketing parenting or marriage curriculum (whether or not court-ordered, though typically it is) also can include the term, as I found in my last (“FamiliesChange: The Sentence,” 2/14/2018) post, in these images:
More on Cornell: Over 100 years later (and about 22 years ago from my perspective) (1996) the New York Times was found writing up some complaints about Cornell taking more than its share of public funding (“SUNY” = State University of New York, i.e., the public system).
Can SUNY Afford Cornell? Officials Are Questioning the Division of State Support? (Emily M. Bernstein, The New York Times, Feb. 21, 1996, under “N.Y.| region”) explains this more, and how Cornell’s trustees typically have friends in VERY high places, and can simply bypass budget the cuts:
Perched atop a hill at the edge of Cayuga Lake, Cornell University is best known as a private Ivy League institution, one that just raised $1.5 billion. But it is also part of the State University system, receiving about $170 million a year to teach industrial arts and farming.
The combination is singular among American universities, and through a mix of lobbying muscle and important alumni in Albany, the university has largely been spared from eight years of state cuts to public higher education. …
Today, the four state colleges that are part of Cornell receive 15 percent of the tax money that goes to operate the State University system, up from 8 percent a decade ago. They are getting 20 percent — $200 million — of the $1 billion SUNY is now spending on construction; the only new buildings at Cornell in the last five years have been paid for by the state.
Despite the recent complaints of Mr. Gardner {{see article}} and others, SUNY has typically had little leverage over Cornell’s budget. Cornell alumni are in leadership roles of both parties in the Legislature and in the executive branch in Albany. Its trustees include one of Gov. George E. Pataki’s campaign chairmen, Joseph H. Holland. Henrik N. Dullea, its vice president overseeing the lobbying in Albany, was a key Democratic operative in the administrations of Gov. Hugh L. Carey and Gov. Mario M. Cuomo, serving for a time as Governor Cuomo’s director of operations ….While the SUNY trustees set a budget that the other colleges must abide by, Cornell officials routinely bypass the budgeting by taking their case to a sympathetic Legislature.
Speaking of housing projects (at Cornell), from last May 8, 2017 (PRNewswire release, info provided by the public-traded housing developer EDR):
Cornell University and EdR Celebrate Start of Construction for Graduate and Professional Student Housing Memphis, TN,
Click image to enlarge or HERE for article on EdR project ground-breaking ceremony at Cornell.
“The new Maplewood project will nearly triple the number of students who lived here previously, its proximity to campus is tremendously valuable to students and the rents will be affordable.”
Designed to fill Cornell’s need for quality on-campus housing geared toward the unique demands of graduate students, the Maplewood Graduate and Professional Student Housing will feature 872 beds, open outdoor space, a playground for children, a community center, study areas and robust internet and Wi-Fi throughout the complex. ….
About EdR
EdR (NYSE: EDR) is one of America’s largest owners, developers and managers of collegiate housing. EdR is a self-administered and self-managed real estate investment trust that owns or manages 88 communities with more than 45,800 beds serving 55 universities in 25 states. EdR is a member of the Russell 2000 Index, the S&P MidCap 400 and the Morgan Stanley REIT indices. For details, please visit the company’s Web site at www.EdRtrust.com.
For more information, contact:
J. Drew Koester, Senior Vice President, Capital Markets and Investor Relations
901-259-2523 dkoester@EdRtrust.com
“CaRDI” = “Community and Regional Developmt. Institute within Cornell CALS (College of Agricultural and Life Sciences); CaRDI, both sites say, partners with the Bronfenbrennar Center for Translational Research, in the College of Human Ecology…” with its emphasis on psychology.
What concerns me about the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research and its (I just discovered recently) partnering with “CaRDI” (Community and Regional Development Institute, also at Cornell), is the increasing consolidation of research and planning facilities in places less than reachable and accountable to the US public in general, that is, within university centers taking government and private grants both for “solution-based” programming of combined (for starters; no doubt there are more) HHS- and HUD-funded activities.
The Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research (BCTR) in the College of Human Ecology (CHE) capitalizes on one of the most dynamic and exciting recent developments in the scientific community: the new emphasis on translational research (TR) as a means to more closely link the twin missions of research and outreach. TR is the systematic movement of research findings into the development of innovative interventions, practices, and policies that may ultimately improve health and well-being, and also the use of knowledge derived from interventions, practices, and policies to inform research. We envision a bi-directional pathway between scientific research and community practice, bridging these two realms in more effective ways. The BCTR was named in honor of Cornell’s renowned developmental psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner, who pioneered a multidisciplinary and translational approach to human development and helped create the federal Head Start program
There were “Centers for Translational Science” in Tobacco Cessation, too — remember my earlier posts on the theme? (use “search function” on top right sidebar of blog**). As I understand it, this might as well be called “Product Research and Development” except that the “product” is in the field of population management, like any other crop, or domesticated animals…. (**I posted on NCATS — National Center for Advancing Translational Science (under NIH) herein October, 2017, along with the fourteen “TCORS” (Tobacco Centers on Regulatory Science). The idea behind the interesting history of HHS/NIH (and what lies beneath that giant) is to accelerate research and development of various cures, i.e., for “pharma” sector.
Reviewing that post, and compared with the Bronfenbrenner Translational Center at Cornell, I see both got going in 2011 (name change at Cornell) and 2012 (first funding for NCATS). A few images from this post after showing where “NCATS” fits within its full title…
This post is called: Public Health Service Act Timelines since 1944 through Affordable Care Act of 2010 (Incl. contributing Bill S.4108, right before before National Cancer Act of 1971). See also Tobacco Control Act of 2009 and NIH-FDA-related updates, Like: TCORS’ (so far) 14 Regulatory Science Resource Centers, or NCATS (2012ff) to better Advance Translational Science; predictably with continued Big Tobacco Litigation (protesting First Amendmt. Violations promoted by Tobacco Control Act of 2009) — and let’s not forget UCSF’s Multi-million-dollar, NIH- or FDA-sponsored: Centers, Institutes, and Famous Anti-smoking Professor. (short-link ends “-7Iq” with “I” being a capital “i” as in, commonly used for the first person, singular, pronoun)
The title needs some work, but regardless of the version, the underlying shortlink stays the same. Some prior versions feature different parts of the post:
From my Oct. 2017 post, Public Health Service Timeline (TCORS, NCATS). The top right inset has nothing to do with USA’s NCATs. There’s an “NCATS” in the UK, different purpose and name). Note the “petri dish” diagram, again…CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
From my Oct. 2017 post, “Public Health Service Timeline” esp. after recent 2009 “Tobacco Act” involving the FDA and the NIH interactions, plus NCATS…CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE
Also reminds me of what used to be called “Isis Innovation Limited,” but now, more tactfully (obviously) goes by “Oxford University Innovation.” I blogged this at EconomicBrain.wordpress.com (a.k.a., “Cold,Hard.Fact$” another blog I started, probably around 2012). See post “From Oxford to Harvard to D.C. — Feeding, Fueling — and Vaccinating — the World” (October 25, 2012 post).
Whether it’s incubating spinoff companies based on university-funded research or funding the research, Oxford is no “slouch.” It loses no time in moving research into products, with the incubator company wholly-owned by the university — the idea of course bringing more wealth back into it. The track record is impressive…
These are from the EconomicBrain (“Cold Hard Facts”) post, except one, linked to that post, describing Sir Tim Berners-Lee who “invented the World Wide Web in 1989”. It’s image-gallery time… As the post title implies, Oxford, Harvard, (one of the largest 501©3s in) D.C. (GAVI Alliance. See also “BIO” a 501©6 giant Biotechnology Innovation Organization.. and Oxford’s “Said Business School” with (Harvard professor?) Peter Tufano and his wife attorney Mary Anne Tufano with the solving-poverty nonprofit, and even (for Berners-Lee) the Ford Foundation get in there. Along with the GAVI Alliance and its creative ways of finding international finance facilities for innoculation, well, the world… In nine images (the first one shows current name of Isis Innovation Ltd. in search results; notice the summary text about spin-offs. After that, it’s mostly from my post (with some extra annotations).
-
- Formerly Isis Innovation Ltd..
(Name change in August 2017 to Oxentia)
As mentioned, Isis Innovation Ltd. changed its name. I see from a current website, that happened only in 2016 (perhaps the geopolitical and terrorism association was undesirable…!), with another component having been renamed “Oxentia” and become separate as recently as August, 2017 (I’m writing early March, 2018 only). See next screenprint, or the website:
Whether it’s spinning off into operation through incubation, consulting, and connecting researcher so the public in this model, or now called “translating” (Translational) research into practice through outreach, and getting feedback to “bidirectionally” inform the research, producing more of it — it seems the major players are still going to be the universities, finances poured into them, and periodically some giant non-profit (tax-exempt) foundations, whether in the USA or UK or elsewhere, working with each other on the chosen projects. (And creating “growth markets” in the same — London’s AIM referenced). In other words, the university model as a corporate model — and from the start of the major ones, in the US at least, some right after the Civil War.
Back to CORNELL UNIVERSITY, Ithaca, NY (and its “College of Human Ecology”)
Looking just now at how the College of Human Ecology describes itself (“HUMAN.cornell.edu” – link in above paragraph) — it’s one of four “contract colleges” within the university, and blends certain other departments, as well as lists these (next image) types of Centers, apparently:
…The College also houses the Cornell Institute for Public Affairs and the Sloan Program in Health Administration. We prioritize innovative collaboration and are fueled by a powerful, interdisciplinary and applied (translational) approach. The College of Human Ecology is one of four contract colleges at Cornell.
Centers and Institutes within Cornell’s “College of Human Ecology” Interesting titles. Notice includes Research on Children, and a Population Center…
Home page banner describing its activities, notice the “-ings” — improving and shaping…
Link to Cornell’s history of the College of Human Ecology, transformed from “Home Economics” (targeted, of course, towards women) underneath the College of Agricultural Sciences (which would’ve been the public-funded part). All images © 2018 Cornell (including some labeled HEARTH); those I selected shown here as a gallery/”Slideshow” format to conserve space on the post. Note break for WWII (1936 – 1957), Alfred P. Sloan Funding, 1975 Bronfenbrenner Life Course, and the Center acquired that name only in 2011. Also reference to a “female ghetto” and progressive era — women were allowed to progress professionally by studying home economics, hygiene, etc.
I searched “Cornell” On Form 990s, specifying (after seeing how many results if I didn’t specify) “NY” then sorted them by total assets, largest to smallest (that’s Total Gross Assets). The list, “uniquely” shows Form 990finder (the database) getting the organization name two out of three times (top of the list — see all three EIN#s are the same, but only one actually reads “Cornell University.” Link to Form 990 for FY2015 (ends June 30, 2016). I looked (all the way) through this one, but do not feel like narrating it in a series of images at this point. The image quality isn’t that good to start with. But it was interesting to see where the major revenues come from (especially program service revenues, Part VIII Line 2), where most assets are held, etc., and the Related (Schedule-R) entities.
Without annotation, just a glimpse of that return, Pt.I (Pg 1) in two images, Pt. VIII (about p.9) in two images, and Pt. X (Balance Sheet — look for “Assets” the “Liabilities” in vertical on the left margins) in two images. Click any image and use navigation keys — this is “slide-show” style gallery:
Maybe another time. Here’s that image, however:
Image described in yellow comment. (990finder search results for ‘Cornell’)
Let's Get Honest! Absolutely Uncommon Analysis of Family & Conciliation Courts' Operations, Practices, & History 
Leave a comment