Kotlikoff: Education is key to a better future | Cornell Chronicle

"Societal divisions and seismic shifts in technology make this "an enormously consequential time for our university, for all of higher education and for our country," President Michael I. Kotlikoff said Oct. 24 in the annual State of the University address. "Every university president now finds themself seeking, with fresh urgency, new answers to old questions around higher education in America: How can the university best prepare its students for the future they will inhabit - and build the best future for our nation?" said Kotlikoff, Cornell's 15th president."

""At our founding," he said, "Cornell offered almost anyone a brilliant window into a larger world - introducing students from remote farms and rural towns to a life of the mind, and to ideas and people unlike those they had ever known. Today, we open that window for more students than ever before - giving students from every background the essential and enlightening, challenging and rewarding, often difficult and always human experience of a Cornell education.""

"Cornell - which enrolls more transfer students and Pell Grant recipients than any other university in the Ivy League - has a profound responsibility to future generations, he said. "Educating capable citizens and leaders, ready to take on every new challenge, is part of Cornell's mission," he said."

Societal divisions and rapid technological change create an enormously consequential moment for universities, higher education, and the nation. Universities must urgently find new answers to prepare students for an uncertain future and to build a better national future. Cornell emphasizes history, academic freedom, broad access, impactful research, innovative faculty, and passionate students as central strengths. Cornell historically opened a window to a larger world for students from remote farms and rural towns and continues to expand that opportunity across backgrounds. Cornell enrolls more transfer students and Pell Grant recipients than any other Ivy League institution and holds a profound responsibility to future generations. Educating capable citizens and leaders is central to Cornell's mission.

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