Timeline
-
1865
Founding of Cornell University
-
1866
Andrew Dickson White becomes the first president of Cornell.
-
1868
On October 7, 1968, Cornell University officially opens for instruction. The first class welcomes 26 professors and 412 students.
-
1870
Nagasawa Kanaye becomes the first Japanese student to attend Cornell.
-
1871
Frederick L.O. Roehrig is appointed professor of Sanskrit and Living Asiatic Languages.
-
1885
Charles Kendall Adams becomes the second president of Cornell.
-
1892
Jacob Gould Schurman becomes the third president of Cornell.
-
1899
President McKinley appointed the First Philippine Commission to investigate the islands. It was led by Cornell President Jacob Schurman.
-
1901
Sao-Ke Alfred Sze becomes the first Chinese student to graduate from Cornell.
-
1902
The Cornell University Library officially begins collecting books on East Asia.
-
1904
Founding of the Chinese Students Association.
-
1904
Jose Reyes becomes the first Filipino student to graduate from Cornell.
-
1904
Modesto Quiroga founds the Cornell Cosmopolitan Club.
-
1906
Cornell Trustees authorizes six scholarships a year for Chinese students in the aftermath of the Boxer Rebellion.
-
1908
The Cornell Alumni Directory lists 53 Japanese alumni, 37 Chinese alumni, 26 Filipino alumni, 16 Indian alumni, and 1 Korean alumnus.
-
1911
Yoshi Shoda becomes the first female Asian student to attend Cornell.
-
1912
Nai Tee becomes the first Thai student to attend Cornell.
-
1914
Su Chen Wang becomes the first female Chinese student to attend Cornell.
-
1916
Rho Psi Society is founded (the first club for Asian and Asian American students in the Ivy League).
-
1916
Helen Huie Kwei becomes the first female Asian American student to attend Cornell.
-
1918
Charles W. Wason gives his collection of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean literature to the Kroch Library, establishing the Wason Collection.
-
1921
Livingston Farrand becomes the fourth president of Cornell.
-
1924
Founding of the "Filipino Cornellians” club.
-
1924
Zung Nyi Loh becomes the first female Asian graduate student, receiving an A.M. in Physics. Thesis: The effect of temperature on the absorption of fluorescein.
-
1926
Pearl S. Buck studies rural sociology under Cornell’s Agricultural College and University of Nanjing agricultural exchange program.
-
1931
Pearl S. Buck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for her novel, "The Good Earth," which explores life in a Chinese village.
-
1937
Edmund Ezra Day becomes the fifth president of Cornell.
-
1938
Knight Biggerstaff becomes the first full-time professor of Chinese History.
-
1944
Cornell creates the Department of Chinese Studies.
-
1945
By the end of World War II, more than 480 Cornell alumni sacrificed their lives while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.
-
1948
Cornell University establishes the Bang Chan project, a program of instruction, training, and research in anthropology in rural Thailand.
-
1949
Cornell University receives the Gandhi Memorial Library.
-
1950
Cornell establishes a Southeast Asia Program.
-
1951
Deane Waldo Malott becomes the sixth president of Cornell.
-
1953
Cornell begins to offer Hindi language instruction.
-
1955
Hau Wong Ho attends Cornell University, starting the Ho Family legacy. To date, four members of the Ho family have received an education from Cornell.
-
1958
The U.S. Office of Education designates Cornell University to be a national center for Southeast Asian studies.
-
1960
The U.S. Office of Education designates Cornell University to be a national center for East Asian studies.
-
1962
The Department of Asian Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences begins coordinating all teaching and research in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and South Asia.
-
1963
James A. Perkins becomes the seventh president of Cornell.
-
1969
The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art debuts an exhibit dedicated to Japanese artist Masuo Ikeda.
-
1977
The Southeast Asia Collection in the library was named in honor of John M. Echols, professor of linguistics and literature in the Southeast Asia Program.
-
1978
Professors Lauriston Sharp and Lucien M. Hanks publish "Bang Chan: Social History of a Rural Community in Thailand."
