by Paul Miller

Some taught us lessons, some taught us intangibles behind the lessons: how to reason, how to craft, how to live. Faculty members are the driving force of Cornell University, the intellectual capital that attracts students and prepares them to realize their dreams. Generations of Cornellians have benefited from a faculty rich in scholarly tradition. But it is also for their role as mentors and advisors, for the indelible impact professors made on their students' lives, that many alumni remain grateful.

Kraig Adler, professor of biology and vice provost for life sciences, feels a great responsibility for students' welfare, especially first-years, for whom the Cornell experience can seem daunting. "Professors are role models," says Adler, "and how you relate to students as human beings makes a huge difference in their academic performance."

To welcome new students, Adler includes slides of the Ithaca area in his biology presentations, and he takes an active role in student life. "I try to encourage students to attend athletic events, especially ones they may not have witnessed before, like lacrosse or polo."

Sometimes such encouragement yields unusual results. Adler recounts receiving an invitation to Professors' Night at a Cornell polo match. During intermission he was called out to the rink and asked to mount a horse. In this variation of the game there were no saddles, and faculty used brooms instead of mallets, a basketball instead of a polo ball.

"What I realized," remembers Adler, "was that we were not honored attendees but halftime entertainment!" It is often good-natured interaction like this that transcends the classroom and lays the groundwork for relationships that last beyond a student's years on the Hill.

If one faculty concern is to make students feel welcome, another is to make them feel supported. For Marge Hubbert, professor of accounting in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, advising is an important component of the faculty-student relationship.

"To do well academically, students need to be made to feel good about life in general and positive about their role in the university," she says. "Sure, we talk about courses and careers, but many of them look to you as a surrogate parent, particularly when they need reassurance."

For Hubbert, like many faculty members, the advising role doesn't always stop at commencement. "Every now and then they call to chit-chat. Sometimes they're 10 years out and making work or life decisions, and they still call to see what I think. It makes you feel quite special."

Great faculty, like Adler and Hubbert, attract great students. Now, Cornell faces a formidable challenge to attract and retain the best faculty. The university remains competitive in academic opportunity, student quality, and research facilities, but it lags behind its peer institutions in faculty salaries.

In 1999, the Faculty Senate, academic deans, and administration defined two peer groups against which to measure faculty compensation progress. Institutions were selected jointly by the faculty and the administration according to program quality and their competition with Cornell for new student admissions.

The graph shows the change in Cornell's faculty salaries measured against the average of these reference groups and illustrates two important trends: the decline that has occurred over the past 20 years, and the advances made since Cornell's salary improvement plan was launched in 1999.  Progress has been made, yet more remains to be done.

Cornell has gradually increased faculty compensation, but the environment remains challenging. There is a renewed urgency to the university's call for increased faculty support. Why? Because attracting new faculty is going to become a prominent part of the Cornell landscape.

In the next five to 10 years, a startling 40 percent of current faculty will reach retirement age, necessitating the most aggressive recruiting since the 1960s. Since this is a widespread demographic trend, Cornell will be competing with other universities facing the same crisis. Salary, location, quality of living, quality of students, research facilities, and extracurricular opportunities are considerations each faculty candidate evaluates.

There's no question that Cornell's student body and research facilities are topnotch. But while Ithaca offers pastoral beauty and a world-class research environment for faculty, the local job market for faculty spouses and partners is limited. Universities within metropolitan areas not only provide comparable salaries for faculty, but also offer more employment opportunities to two-career couples.

To meet the current economic challenges, to retain existing faculty, to prepare for the forthcoming retirement of so many faculty, and to tip the balance for new faculty recruits in favor of Cornell, the university will focus on increasing the number of endowed faculty positions while also generating financial resources to supplement existing faculty compensation. It will also create endowed funds for faculty research, summer support, travel funds, and fellowships for graduate student assistants. Competitive salaries and a permanent source of funding to support faculty research will immeasurably strengthen the university's position by enabling it to reward current faculty and to compete for the outstanding new talent essential to sustain Cornell as a top-ranked world university.

Many alumni still turn to their faculty mentors for inspiration and advice, just as they did in their student years. The gift of an endowed chair not only pays tribute to the faculty member who holds the chair, but it offers alumni, parents, and friends a personal way of saying thanks to faculty members who have helped shape their lives.

There are a variety of ways for alumni to commemorate the Cornell faculty's commitment to teaching and advising- at all levels-whether endowing a named professorship or contributing to a faculty enhancement fund. (See giving opportunities.)