Third Time's the Charm KOOLHAAS TO DESIGN MILSTEIN

THE ON-AGAIN, OFF-AGAIN SAGA OF MILSTEIN HALL--The future home of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning-- entered its next chapter with the selection of a new design team, the third since the project's inception. On January 19, AAP Dean Mohsen Mostafavi announced that the college had finalized plans with the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), a Dutch firm led by a group of partners that includes Pritzker Prize-winning architect Rem Koolhaas, to design the $34 million building that will be built adjacent to current AAP facilities in Rand and Sibley halls. Koolhaas, who briefly studied at Cornell in 1972 and 1973, will co-lead the design team with OMA partner Joshua Prince-Ramus, head of the firm's New York office; the pair recently collaborated on the acclaimed Seattle Central Library, which opened in 2004 and won the 2005 Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects. Steven Holl Architects and Barkow Leibinger Architects had submitted previous Milstein Hall designs that met with mixed reviews on campus and were ultimately rejected.

Building with Windows  GATES FOUNDATION GIVES $25 MILLION TO CORNELL

IN JANUARY, THE BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION awarded $25 million to Cornell for the construction of a new computer science facility. The building, to be named William H. Gates Hall, will house the Department of Computer Science and elements of the Information Science Program; it will also act as the cornerstone for a planned "information campus" that will bring together various units of the Faculty of Computing and Information Science that are now scattered across campus.More than fifty faculty hold joint appointments in CIS and in their respective departments, from the physical sciences and mathematics to the arts.

Gates became interested in Cornell's computer science program when he accepted the invitation of then-President Jeffrey Lehman '77 to visit the campus in February 2004. According to preliminary plans, Gates Hall will measure 100,000 square feet and cost $50 million. Various sites are under consideration, including the old polo grounds below the Kite Hill area, the baseball field on Hoy Road, and the far end of the university orchards on Route 366.

Death, Taxes, and Tuition Hikes  BOARD OF TRUSTEES APPROVES INCREASES

THE COST OF A CORNELL EDUCATION WILL RISE, AGAIN, by about 5 percent in the 2006–07 academic year. In January, the Board of Trustees approved a 4.8 percent tuition increase for most undergraduate and graduate students in the endowed colleges; this translates to $1,500 more, bumping tuition to $32,800. Undergraduates in the contract colleges will pay 5 percent more, with tuition for New York State residents rising to $18,060 and non-resident tuition totalling $31,700.

First-year law students were the hardest hit, with a 7.5 percent increase to $40,580. At the Johnson Graduate School of Management, tuition will go up by 6.7 percent, to $38,000. Instate students at the College of Veterinary Medicine face a 4.5 percent increase, to $23,000, while non-residents will pay 4.8 percent more, or $33,000.

Endowment Gains  DESPITE GOOD YEAR, INVESTMENT CHIEF RESIGNS

ACCORDING TO THE CHRONICLE OF HIGHER EDUCATION, Cornell's endowment as of June 30, 2005, was valued at $3.8 billion, an increase of 16.6 percent over the previous year. Overall, U.S. higher education endowments increased by an average of 9.3 percent for the year. Cornell's endowment is the seventeenth largest among American colleges and universities. Harvard continues to lead the pack at $25.5 billion, followed by Yale at $15.2 billion and Stanford at $12.2 billion.

Although Cornell's endowment has performed well in recent years, the University's chief investment officer,Donald Fehrs '77, announced his resignation in January. Fehrs joined the investment office in 1999 and became chief investment officer four years later. "I have valued my time at Cornell and am thankful for the many talented and dedicated people with whom I have worked," Fehrs said in a statement. "I am proud of the secure investment position we've helped foster for the University. Recognizing that success, I feel the time has come when I can look at other opportunities."No successor has been named.

New Face  NEW DIRECTOR FOR MINORITY ALUMNI PROGRAMS

IN JANUARY, RENEE ALEXANDER '74 assumed her duties as the new director of Minority Alumni Programs. She replaces Deniqua Crichlow '99, who became the director of the Johnson School's Office of Diversity and Inclusion. Alexander is charged with providing leadership for programs focused on Cornell's 20,000 minority alumni, with the goal of expanding the number of minority alumni participating in Cornell programs and serving in volunteer leadership positions. Alexander was most recently at New School University's Eugene Lang College, where she directed the internship program and special initiatives, including the cultivation of community for students of color. Originally from Buffalo, Alexander is a co-founder and lifetime member of the Cornell Black Alumni Association (CBAA). One of her first projects as director was the Cornell Mosaic @ New York City conference, held at the Cornell Club–New York on February 4. The Saturday afternoon event, "Celebrating Diversity and Advancing Inclusion," drew about 130 alumni and guests. Additional regional Mosaic conferences will be held in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Chicago; for further information, go to http:// alumni.cornell.edu/mosaic/.