Happy 2021! I wish everyone a healthy and joyful year. Please join me in welcoming Lori Huberman, Assistant Professor in Plant Pathology & Plant-Microbe Biology!

Congratulations!

• Wojtek Pawlowski was promoted to Full Professor, well done Wojtek!
• The annual MacDonald/Musgrave Awards were given by the Soil & Crop Science Section on December 11. Well-deserving awardees are:
  • Musgrave Award: Leslie Larsen
  • MacDonald Award: Jonathan Russell-Annelli
  • MacDonald/Musgrave Graduate Student Award: Taylor Cyle
• Barbara McClintock Award for 2020: Congratulations to recipients Brandon Miller, Chase Crowell, Jenna Hershberger, Sarah Jensen, Jack Satterlee, and Daniel Sweeney!
• Sellew Family Excellence-in-Mentoring Fellowship for 2021: Congratulations to Soil & Crop Sciences graduate student Olenka Zavodna, selected in recognition of her undergraduate mentoring activities

Strategic Planning

Thank you for responding! The SIPS executive committee has had the opportunity to read through all the responses. The survey went out to just under 1000 people and we had about 150 responses including

• 87 faculty, emeritus, and senior academics – including adjunct and courtesy
• 32 grad students
• 6 postdocs
• 15 technical staff
• 10 administrative staff

We continue to distill themes from the responses, and I have been using the information as a foundation for building a draft outline of our strategic plan. The data will help to focus our next steps in the process. To give you an idea of the range of answers to some of the survey questions, a condensed version highlighting major themes in the responses can be viewed here. This link does not yet include answers to all questions, as the SIPS Diversity and Inclusion committee will be reviewing responses on how to make our community more inclusive and diverse.

SIPS diversity and inclusion: See the dashboard for Composition of Cornell Students, Staff and Faculty.

Remember, anyone can Report a Bias Incident here.

Fall 2020 Semester Wrap-up

Grades for the fall semester are due by Thursday, January 7. Please prioritize grades for graduating seniors. If you assign an incomplete (INC) or failing grade (F), a required online Failing & Incomplete form must be completed through OLGAA. The form is available 24 hours after submitting the grade in Faculty Center. Instructions on how to submit the online Failing and Incomplete form can be found here.

Spring 2021 Semester Updates

Spring 2021 pre-enrollment is complete. We all need to make sure we have uploaded a course syllabus (a draft is just fine) to the class roster before add/drop opens on February 2. If you have not yet done so, please get a draft to Leah Cook (lcc2@cornell.edu). You can also check out this Guide to Spring 2021 Enrollment. Room assignments have also been completed for the upcoming semester. Please check your course listing one more time and let Leah know immediately about any concerns.

Renovation

For those on the Ithaca campus, you may have noticed a flurry of activity near the conservatory. One of the cornice corners at the top of the Plant Science Building was in critical need of rebuilding. The removal of the damaged parapet and cornice stone is happening now, and rebuilding will start next week. The project completion is expected February 4, 2021.

Bradfield renovation is underway with work currently on floors 1-4.

Congratulations to the following people who were recognized with a SIPS Kudos in the last month! Thanks for your effort and passion in support of SIPS.

• Building Mastery & Skill: Stephen Snyder
• Going Above & Beyond: Tami Payne, Leslie Larson, Marius Weigert, Susan Hoskins, Steve Smith, Diane Ayers, Linda Cox, Andrea Gilbert, Tracy Chapman, Judy Kolkman, Bob Turgeon, Kevin Ahern

PLEASE remember to recognize people in our SIPS community that have gone out of their way to enhance our School. All you have to do is complete the brief form here.

Take care,

Chris