Committee on the Future of the American University

Charge to the Committee

For centuries, universities have been committed to seeking truth, advancing discovery-based knowledge and creative expression, educating future generations, and serving the broader society. Past changes to universities have been driven in part by the unique context of their times. Today’s context brings the American university to another defining moment:

  • Public trust in institutions of higher learning is at a low point, fueled by concerns about the value of a university education especially given the high costs, diminished public access to the benefits of the university, worries about insular thinking that can discourage broader viewpoints, and doubts about the usefulness for society of the knowledge imparted by a university education.
  • The university–government compact, from the Morrill Land-Grant Acts establishing the land-grant university to the invention of the federally funded R1 university in the wake of World War II, cemented America’s leadership in discovery, innovation, science, and medicine, drawing outstanding scholars to universities from around the country and the world. The ongoing renegotiation of university–government relations could transform this long-standing partnership.
  • Technological change, including the emergence of artificial intelligence, recalls the rapid industrialization of the late 19th century and its reshaping of education, but with a dramatically accelerated pace of change.

This is a consequential moment in the history of higher education. We need to move forward in a principled way, reimagining, where necessary, how we accomplish our missions.

This committee is charged with envisioning the long-term future of Cornell as an American university, as these challenges and opportunities bear on the institution’s core missions:

  • Undergraduate education: How should a university educate undergraduates in the face of diminished trust and significant sociotechnical change? How can universities best train today’s students to become responsible citizens in a polarized world with the capacity to debate and disagree constructively with those who hold different views? How can we embrace change, including the possibilities and disruptions presented by AI, while retaining our commitment to the power of reading and writing, dialogue, human ingenuity, and critical thought?
  • Graduate education: The dual pressures of diminished trust in higher learning and reduced federal funding present a consequential challenge to graduate education. How should universities train the next generation of scholars, researchers, entrepreneurs, creatives, and leaders?
  • Scholarship: What is the future of university scholarship? If federal support continues to wane, how can American universities retain global leadership in research through new partnerships and funding models? How do we build trust with and better serve a public that increasingly doubts the value of our scholarship and has concerns about integrity and ideological bias?
  • Public impact and community engagement: As a social institution, the university is embedded in American communities, providing services and support that go beyond the contributions of its educational and research missions. How can we leverage the knowledge we generate to inform policy and practice and to improve the daily lives of communities, families, and individuals?

Across each of these core missions of the university, we must assess the challenges and opportunities presented at this historical moment, engaging with supporters and skeptics — within our university and beyond. How should the American university adapt to best serve future generations?

Committee Membership

  • Ariel Avgar, co-chair, the David M. Cohen Professor, Labor Relations, Law, and History; director of the Center for Applied Research on Work, Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR);
  • Anthony Burrow, the Ferris Family Associate Professor of Life Course Studies in the Department of Psychology; Director, Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research; Senior Associate Dean for Outreach and Extension; College of Human Ecology (CHE);
  • Brian Crane, the George W. and Grace L. Todd Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, College of Arts and Sciences (A&S); Director, Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology; Professor, Howard Hughes Medical Institute-Cornell University Research Transfer;
  • Milton Curry, Professor of Architecture; Senior Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives and Engagement, College of Architecture, Art, and Planning;
  • Eve De Rosa, the Mibs Martin Follett Professor in Human Ecology; Professor of Psychology, CHE; Dean of Faculty;
  • Rick Geddes, Professor of Policy Analysis and Management in the Department of Economics, Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy (Brooks School);
  • Durba Ghosh, Professor of History, A&S;
  • Drew Margolin, Associate Professor of Communication, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS);
  • Sheila Olmstead, Professor, Brooks School; Atkinson Scholar and Senior Faculty Fellow, Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability;
  • Frank Pasquale, Professor, Cornell Tech; Professor of Law, Cornell Law School;
  • David Rand, Professor of Marketing and Management Communication, Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business; Professor of Information Science, Cornell Bowers;
  • Joss Rose, Barbara McClintock Professor and Director, School of Integrative Plant Science, Plant Biology Section, CALS;
  • Phoebe Sengers, co-chair, Professor of Information Science, Cornell Bowers; Professor of Science and Technology Studies, A&S;
  • Praveen Sethupathy, co-chair, Professor and Chair, Department of Biomedical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine;
  • Adam T. Smith, co-chair, Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences in Anthropology, A&S; Director, Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies; Associate Dean and Secretary of Faculty;
  • Marcus Smolka, Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, CALS; member, Weill Institute for Cell and Molecular Biology; Associate Vice Provost for Life Sciences, Office of Research and Innovation; Interim Director, Cornell Institute of Biotechnology and the Biotechnology Resource Center;
  • Abraham Stroock ’95, the Gorden L. Dibble ’50 Professor, Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell Engineering; Adjunct Professor, School of Integrative Plant Science, CALS; Director, National Science Foundation Center for Research on Programmable Plant Systems;
  • Julia Thom-Levy, Professor and Chair, Department of Physics, A&S.