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You're Soaking in It ROVER SCIENTISTS CONFIRM MARS WAS WET

TWO MONTHS AFTER LANDING THE first of two robotic geological rovers on Mars, a team of scientists led by astronomy professor Steve Squyres '78, PhD '81, announced that they had made good on their promise to "follow the water." In a March 2 news conference at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., Squyres, principal investigator for the Cornell-developed Athena instrument payload, declared that rocks analyzed by the rover Opportunity "were once soaked in liquid water. It changed their texture and it changed their chemistry." Three weeks later, he went one step further, telling reporters on March 23 that "Opportunity is parked on the shoreline of what was once a salty sea."

That conclusion, based on analysis of sedimentary structures imaged at Opportunity's Meridiani Planum landing site, confirms the hypothesis that drove the mission: that liquid water played some long-term role in the history of the now-arid planet. NASA views the "water question" as the first step to further investigations into the possibility that life may have existed on Mars in the past. "It was the kind of place that would have been suitable for life," Squyres said. "That doesn't mean life was there--we don't know that. But this was a habitable place on Mars at one point in time."NASA's head of space science, Ed Weiler, further speculated that Meridiani's dry salt flats could hold greater secrets. "If you have an interest in searching for fossils on Mars," he said,"this is the place."

Since engineers successfully repaired the memory of the rover Spirit in late January, both machines have been operating near-flawlessly, sending back a wealth of geological and atmospheric data and offering "results that go beyond our wildest expectations," according to Weiler.Mission highlights have included first-ever images of a Martian sunset, scenes of the planet's moons Phobos and Deimos in solar eclipse, and Spirit's several-week journey of over 1,000 feet to the rim of a crater nicknamed "Bonneville." For rover news and images, go to: http://marsrovers. jpl.nasa.gov.

Lehman on Diversity AFFIRMATIVE ACTION LECTURE

IN EARLY MARCH, PRESIDENT JEFFREY LEHMAN '77 GAVE an hour-long speech about affirmative action in the wake of the June 2003 Supreme Court decisions in the Grutter and Gratz cases. "Great universities are special institutions in our world," he told about 200 listeners. "They provide environments that are uniquely able to sustain a set of transcendent values, values that speak to our noblest aspirations as human beings. And, by immersing students in those unique environments for four or five or more years, they are able to offer our future leaders the kind of preparation that permits us to sustain hope for human progress."He proceeded to discuss and analyze several key court cases, including his experiences at the University of Michigan as a defendant in Grutter.

Underlining the significance of a multi-racial campus community, Lehman described Cornell's efforts to attract a diverse applicant pool, including an initiative by Provost Biddy Martin and Associate Provost Doris Davis to encourage middle school students of various ethnic backgrounds to apply.While emphasizing the current importance of integration efforts in education and employment, Lehman concluded: "The long-term goal is not to be a society where affirmative action is lawful. It is to be a society where affirmative action is unnecessary. That means becoming a society where residential segregation, school isolation, socioeconomic disadvantage, and crippling racial stereotypes are things of the past. It means becoming a society where genuine opportunity within an open and integrated community is the true birthright of every child." (The full text of Lehman's talk is available at: www.news.cornell.edu/campus/Lehman.affaction.3.5.04.html.)

CALS Centennial Celebrated PARADE LAUNCHES YEAR OF EVENTS

ON MAY 12, 1904, FESTIVITIES CELEBRATING THE DESIGNATION of Cornell as the official New York College of Agriculture included a parade led by Dean Liberty Hyde Bailey, fireworks, the largest bonfire ever seen in Ithaca, and a banquet that extended late into the night. On May 12, 2004, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences will kick off its year-long centennial celebration with another parade. Floats, antique cars, horse-drawn carriages, the Cornell equestrian team, the Pep Band, and other revelers will gather near Day Hall and march to Fernow Hall--where the Cornell Dairy will reveal a new flavor during a post-parade ice cream social.

Preceding the parade, the Centennial Students' Garden will be dedicated. Under the guidance of professors Peter Trowbridge and Nina Bassuk '74, landscape architecture and horticulture students in this year's "Creating the Urban Eden" course designed and installed the new public space in a tri-angular area behind Warren Hall and the Mann Library addition. Sculptor Rebecca Thompson, MFA '03, created stone benches and trellis sculptures for the garden, incorporating architectural remnants from original Ag Quad buildings.

Throughout the year, activities will focus on a theme of "celebrating the past, shaping the present, and inspiring the future." During Reunion 2004, events to which all alumni are invited include a joint college forum, "Protecting Our World--Addressing Food and Water Safety," and the Liberty Hyde Bailey Lecture by plant breeding professor Steve Tanksley, co-recipient of the 2004 Wolf Prize in Agriculture. For information on CALS centennial events, go to: www.cals.cornell.edu/centennial.

Downsizing eCORNELL TRIMS OPERATION

IN FEBRUARY, THE UNIVERSITY ANNOUNCED THAT eCORNELL was being restructured "to bring the size of its organization in line with the revenue growth pattern." The Collegetown office has been closed, with some personnel laid off. The remaining staff has been consolidated into the facility in Cayuga Heights. The New York City office has also been closed, although sales representatives will continue to work from their homes. The net effect, says CEO John Neuman '62, is that "the proportion of the organization devoted to sales and marketing is now larger."

eCornell was launched in September 2000 with considerable fanfare--and more than a little controversy--as Cornell's for-profit distance-learning subsidiary. It has had the most success with executive education and professional development courses, especially in human resources management. eCornell currently offers about sixty programs, but has yet to show a profit. "We are moving closer to financial independence," says Neuman, "and that remains our most essential goal. We'd also like to broaden our catalogue--we've been talking to people on campus about courses that would be outside of executive and professional education. "Another goal, says Neuman, is finding foundations or other funding sources that will make it possible to offer courses to students who could not otherwise afford the cost.

At the time of eCornell's founding, some faculty members voiced concern about the potential impact on the University's reputation if for-credit courses were offered by a subsidiary intended to make a profit. In response, the Trustees determined that eCornell would offer only non-credit programs. That hasn't changed, although Neuman says that eCornell has strong custom capabilities and could develop such courses--if asked: "The best way for us to be involved in creating for-credit courses would be to be contracted for it, if it serves the purposes of a college."

New VPs Named McMURTRY AND BRUCE APPOINTED

PRESIDENT JEFFREY LEHMAN HAS NAMED VICE PRESIDENTS to head the two new divisions created when he split the Division of University Relations soon after taking office in July 2003. The appointees are scheduled to begin work this spring.

Vanda McMurtry, PhD '79, will be vice president for government and community relations.Most recently, he managed government relations as a senior vice president for Aetna. Before that,McMurtry held a variety of government posts, including a position as staff director and chief counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance from 1989 to 1992. In his new job,McMurtry will direct legislative efforts, handle relations with government on all levels, and be responsible for interactions with community organizations. A native of St. Cloud,Minnesota,McMurtry also earned an MPA from Johns Hopkins University and a JD from Georgetown University.

Thomas Bruce will serve as vice president for communications and media relations. Born in Midland, Texas, Bruce studied at the University of Paris and holds a degree from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He has twenty-five years of experience in public affairs, including federal policymaking, international consulting, and developing and anchoring a national political television show for the Christian Science Monitor. Bruce has also managed advocacy campaigns, most recently as a senior vice president for Chlopak, Leonard, Schecter & Associates in Washington, D.C.

Larger than life: This "photo-realistic" rendering shows the design by architect Richard Meier '56 for the $140 million Life Science Technology Building, which will be placed on the western end of Alumni Fields adjacent to the Biotechnology Building. DESIGN: RICHARD MEIER & PARTNERS / RENDERING: DBOX.COM

Bill Due CLINTON TO SPEAK

IN MARCH, THE SENIOR CLASS'S CONVOCATION COMMITTEE REVEALED THAT it had landed its unanimous first choice for keynote speaker at the 2004 Convocation: former President Bill Clinton. "It was a top priority . . . to recruit a monumental speaker," said chair David Jackson '04. The students were aided in their efforts to secure the forty-second president by President Jeffrey Lehman, who handdelivered the invitation. The former chief executive, who generally commands six-digit fees on the speaking circuit, has waived the student- sponsored committee's honorarium. Last year, Clinton appeared as Syracuse University's 2003 commencement speaker.

The May 29 speech would be the first by a U.S. President at a Cornell Convocation. The Clinton Administration, however, has been well represented in recent graduation years: political advisor James Carville spoke at the 2003 Convocation, and former Attorney General Janet Reno '60 did the honors in 2001.

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