Diane Bondareff

Stan Rodwin '50 accepts the 2015 William “Bill” Vanneman ’31 Outstanding Class Leader Award at the Cornell Alumni Leadership Conference in Boston.

Diane Bondareff

President David Skorton sings with the Glee Club and alumni at the Cornell Alumni Leadership Conference.

The sixth annual Cornell Alumni Leadership Conference (CALC) drew nearly 700 Cornellians to Boston Jan. 16-18 to strategize, to celebrate and to learn more about the university they know, love and serve.

Hosted by the Division of Alumni Affairs and Development, the conference gathers alumni volunteers from classes, clubs, affinity and diversity groups, and other Cornell organizations to ignite alumni engagement through training, sharing, planning and networking.

“When you get a group together that loves Cornell, there’s nothing better,” said Aliana Heffernan ’14, a Class Council member. She and leaders from her class – 35 in all – gathered for their first CALC as alumni to develop a strategy to keep their class close.

CALC had an especially celebratory tone this year. The conference was held in conjunction with the Boston sesquicentennial celebration event Jan. 17 at the Wang Theater, a multimedia variety show highlighting 150 years of Cornell’s big ideas.

Professors Isaac Kramnick and Glenn Altschuler, authors of “Cornell: A History, 1940-2015,” shared Cornell history that surprised the alumni about the “revolutionary and beloved” school.

“Cornell is an enfant terrible,” said Kramnick. “It’s part of the DNA of the university to be rebellious, upsetting the apple cart.”

Altschuler told how Cornell president Frank H.T. Rhodes helped spark an international diplomatic crisis in June 1995 by inviting Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui, Ph.D. ’68, to campus to give the Olin Lecture, defying the wishes of the People’s Republic of China.

Kramnick shared ways Cornell advanced women’s studies in the late 1960s and early 1970s; the term “sexual harassment” was coined by three female Cornell adjunct professors and popularized by national press attention at a May 1975 protest, he said.

“This happened when we were here?” said Gail Wallis ’70 after the talk. “That was such a surprise. It makes you proud.”

The mood of discovery continued when four current students told a breakfast crowd about groundbreaking new initiatives to address mental health, hunger, sustainability and sexual violence.

“Conversation is what gets people thinking,” said Juliana Batista ’16, an ILR School student who is active with the Sexual Violence Prevention Council.

The young Cornellians shared the stage with Stan Rodwin ’50, a seasoned class leader who was honored with the 2015 William “Bill” Vanneman ’31 Outstanding Class Leader Award.

The Class of 1950, known as the “class of the century,” will celebrate its 65th Reunion in June. Rodwin, who has served for 25 years as vice president and Reunion chairman, spoke of the “dynamic strength” of his class. At Reunion, he and classmates will unveil a new book and film that tell the story of how the GI Bill transformed the American Dream for his class.

“Cornell continues to be my springboard into new worlds,” said Rodwin.

Jeff Weintraub ’91, M.D. ’95, whose class is planning a 2016 reunion, said he had lots of work to do as reunion chair, but also attended CALC to reconnect with fellow alumni.

“I love it,” he said. “I love it.”

At Saturday’s lunch the Cornell Glee club honored outgoing President David Skorton with a surprise rendition of the classic Cornell fight song.

“Give my regards to David,” they sang, causing Skorton to laugh in appreciation. “Remember me to T. Rex, too.”

In his last CALC address, the keynote of the weekend, Skorton said that after nine years at Cornell and the nearly 35 years he has been in higher education, he and his wife, Professor Robin Davisson, have discovered that “there is nothing like a Cornell alum.”

He said upcoming events spell excitement and accomplishment for the university, including the Charter Day Weekend celebration April 24-27, the new Engaged Cornell initiative supported by a $50 million gift from David ’91 and Cheryl Einhorn ’91, the Cornell Tech campus, and Klarman Hall, Cornell’s first new building for the humanities since 1905, currently under construction.

He said he hopes alumni welcome incoming President Elizabeth Garrett, who is set to start July 1, with the same warmth and enthusiasm with which they have embraced and worked with him since 2006.

“I’m going to make sure my Cornell email stays alive,” he said. “I want you please not to lose touch with me and Robin. You all mean the world to us.”

Kate Klein is a writer for Alumni Affairs and Development.