The Presidency
Martha E. Pollack
2017 – 2024
A computer scientist and expert in artificial intelligence, Martha E. Pollack led significant advances in the university’s academic distinction and in the accessibility of a Cornell education.
Elizabeth Garrett
2015 – 2016
Elizabeth Garrett, the university’s first woman president, was a dynamic leader who launched key initiatives before her untimely death.
David J. Skorton
2006 – 2015
A distinguished cardiologist and biomedical researcher, David J. Skorton enhanced Cornell’s strengths, not only in science and technology but also in the humanities, arts, and social sciences.
Jeffrey S. Lehman
2003 – 2005
The first alumnus to become president of Cornell, Jeffrey S. Lehman had been dean of the University of Michigan Law School.
Hunter R. Rawlings III
1995 – 2003
Hunter R. Rawlings III came to Cornell with a vision for organizing the remarkably diverse parts of the university to work more effectively together.
Frank H.T. Rhodes
1977 – 1995
During his 18-year presidency, Frank H.T. Rhodes was a nationally recognized advocate for research and education.
Dale R. Corson
1969 – 1977
Dale R. Corson led the university through the final years of the Vietnam War and student activism, and through the economic recession of the 1970s.
James A. Perkins
1963 – 1969
Academic innovations were a hallmark of James A. Perkins’s administration.
Deane Waldo Malott
1951 – 1963
Deane Waldo Malott’s term as Cornell’s sixth president represented the largest period of building in the history of Cornell University.
Edmund Ezra Day
1937 – 1949
Edmund Ezra Day became Cornell’s fifth president in 1937 and later led the university through the turbulent years of World War II.
Livingston Farrand
1921 – 1937
A physician and public health advocate, Livingston Farrand presided over times of growth and the challenges of the Great Depression.
Jacob Gould Schurman
1892 – 1920
Jacob Gould Schurman came to Cornell as professor of Christian ethics and moral philosophy, and soon became head of the Susan Linn Sage School of Philosophy.
Charles Kendall Adams
1885 – 1892
Charles Kendall Adams, a former student of Andrew Dickson White’s, continued to build upon White’s legacy.
Andrew Dickson White
1865 – 1885
A radical idea in American education was born when Andrew Dickson White and Ezra Cornell crossed paths in the New York State Senate.