Dear CAM readers,
First and foremost, we want to thank you for your support of Cornell Alumni Magazine. Without you, our subscribers, we could not have produced this unique and beloved publication that has been informing, entertaining, and connecting Cornellians since it was founded by a group of alumni more than 120 years ago.
Today, we are writing with news about some important upcoming changes: the creation of a new alumni communications hub, and the transformation of CAM into a new form that will reach many more alumni, parents, and friends. While this is a big change, it offers many exciting opportunities.
Over the past several months, we, along with Cornell’s Alumni Affairs and University Relations teams, have been actively exploring how to engage more alumni through the various Cornell-connected publications. We asked prominent volunteers, including members of the CAM Advisory Committee, to serve on an ad hoc committee to review all the ways that Cornellians receive communications from the University. Together we worked to find a solution that will give alumni access to the diversity of content they want to receive, while streamlining communications.
At the same time, like many print publications the world over, CAM has seen its subscriptions decline for a number of years. The magazine now reaches only about 5 percent of Big Red alumni, and our business model is no longer sustainable. This downward trend is not a challenge unique to Cornell, but it is one that we need to address.
As a result, Cornell Alumni Magazine, in its current print iteration, will conclude with the May/June 2021 issue. All subscribers will receive their remaining issues.*
Beginning July 2021, Cornell will launch a go-to destination for alumni to access news and features about the University and its alumni communities. Content that captures the essence of everything that alumni have come to know and love about CAM—including Class Notes—will be at the heart of this dynamic online platform. It will be available free to all Cornellians, enabling us to reach a much wider audience.
Though our initial focus will be on designing and bringing this digital hub to life, the project also includes the development of a paid print option for those who enjoy holding a magazine in their hands. This component—as well as additional digital functionalities that will allow alumni to personalize their experience and select how they receive information—will be added after the initial launch.
For more information about the communication hub, please see these FAQs. We welcome your input in its development. If you have ideas about the new platform, or feedback to share, please e-mail alumniaffairs@cornell.edu.
All of us at Cornell Alumni Magazine are proud to have been part of a publication that has served so many generations of alumni—and with this new iteration of CAM, we look forward to engaging even more Cornellians in the years to come.
Jenny Barnett, Editor & Publisher, Cornell Alumni Magazine
Betty Wong Ortiz ’94, Chair, Cornell Alumni Magazine Committee
Rob Rosenberg ’88, Vice Chair, Cornell Alumni Magazine Committee
*If your subscription to CAM continues beyond May/June 2021, please know that we intend to create a print component of the new publication and you will have the option to roll over your current subscription or to receive a pro-rated refund. We will be in touch with an update this spring.
So sorry the print/delivered magazine is coming to an end. A mistake in my opinion but I thank you for the publication and wish you the best. -Roger A. Stetter
(New Orleans), ILR 1968
I probably won’t read the online one unless you all nail the form factor… Check out apple news for inspiration.
If it is digital, make it a beautiful digital piece
Cornell Alumni Magazine is independent and free of University influence. The new publication/hub will be controlled by the University. Will the University support an independent mechanism – an ombudsman, perhaps – dedicated to ensuring the free exchange of ideas?
This issue is addressed above, but perhaps it can be expanded:
“The new digital publication and alumni communications hub will embody an authentic, genuine alumni voice—and tackle relevant subjects that resonate with alumni with ‘sympathetic objectivity’ toward the University.”
I will also address this inquiry to the University in an appropriate forum.
While I will not prejudge what is to be the “replacement” for the Cornell Alumni Magazine, I am very dubious that it will be anywhere close to as good as the CAM has been. And I agree with Dik Saalfeld’s comments pointing out that, in contrast to the CAM, which while aligned with the University was independent from it, the “replacement” will be completely controlled by the University.