Cornell launching new office focused on community-engaged learning and public service

ITHACA, N.Y. — Cornell University is introducing a new center this summer that’s focused on “advancing” community-engaged learning and public service across the university.

It combines the Public Service Center (PSC) and the Office of Engagement Initiatives (OEI) and seeks to “open new pathways for Cornellians to embrace the university’s land-grant mission to improve lives in New York state, across the nation and around the world,” per a school news release.

The Cornell University board of trustees approved the center in May. It will be endowed, in part, through a gift from Einhorn Collaborative, the foundation led by David Einhorn, a member of the board of trustees and the Cornell University Class of 1991.

The foundation aims to “help people build stronger relationships, embrace differences and rediscover their shared humanity, toward a goal of developing solutions to complex and urgent challenges,” as described in the release.

Two virtual town hall events have been scheduled for faculty, students, staff, alumni and the community to learn more about the center. They will take place Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. and Wednesday at 12 p.m., Cornell said.

The new center will launch July 1. It will be dedicated later in the 2021-22 academic year and given a name that reflects its mission and goals and celebrates David Einhorn’s critical support. The center will be located in the Engaged Cornell Hub in Kennedy Hall.

“I am delighted that David Einhorn’s foundation has created an endowment that allows us to launch Cornell’s new center in a powerful, sustaining way,” Cornell University President Martha Pollack said. “And in the coming year, we look forward to recognizing David’s generosity by naming the center in his honor. This is an exciting opportunity to ensure that the university’s commitment to community engagement will live on in perpetuity, bettering the lives of people and communities around the world and enriching our students’ undergraduate experience.”

Ryan Lombardi, VP for student and campus life, and Katherine McComas, vice provost for engagement and land-grant affairs, will jointly oversee the center.

The new center will streamline the pathways for students to get involved in community-engaged learning and public service, McComas said, “which will amplify how the university supports community engagement and expand options for collaboration, impact and resource-sharing – making the whole greater than the sum of its parts,” per the release.

Basil Safi, executive director of OEI, will be executive director of the new center, and Krista Saleet, director of PSC, will be deputy executive director. The duo brings four decades of experience in higher education and nonprofit management in domestic and international contexts, Cornell said.

The merging of the two entities combines more than 35 years of public service and engagement opportunities and expertise, “including a legacy of strong support from alumni who have been active partners in helping to provide students with public engagement opportunities,” Lombardi said.