December 19, 2011
Mayor Michael Bloomberg has announced that Cornell University has been selected to build an applied science and technology campus in the city, in collaboration with The Technion, Israel's Institute of Technology. Bloomberg says the initiative will "help us become the world's leading city in technological innovation," and that the new campus will generate "some $23 billion in economic activity and $1.4 billion in tax revenue over the next thirty years."
Technion President Peretz Lavie and Cornell President David Skorton flank New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Courtesy of Office of the Mayor.Cornell President David J. Skorton and Technion President Peretz Lavie are in New York City today for the announcement, which took place at Weill Cornell Medical College. Cornell promoted a live online videocast "of special interest to all Cornellians" at 2:30pm EST. The Office of the Mayor has live streaming video of the event, as well.
Mayor Bloomberg says the Cornell-Technion partnership's bid stood out for its ambitiousness. The bid calls for opening the first academic program for the Fall 2012 semester, and having the school fully operational by 2017. "History will write that this was a game-changing time in New York City."
On Friday, Cornell announced that an anonymous gift of $350 million -- the largest in the school's history -- would support Cornell's bid. The school was among a group of finalists that included Stanford University, New York University, Carnegie Mellon University, and Columbia University, but Stanford abruptly announced Friday that it was withdrawing its bid, submitted in collaboration with the City University of New York.
In a statement on Friday evening, Cornell President David J. Skorton said, "I am thankful and proud that this extraordinary individual gift will support Cornell's goal to realize Mayor Bloomberg's vision for New York City. He has inspired us all in the higher education sector." Skorton has been ebullient and outspoken this fall on the subject of what he calls "the tech campus of the future."
Cornell's bid to build a tech campus on New York's Roosevelt Island, in collaboration with The Technion, Israel's Institute of Technology, would expand its foothold in the City. In addition to Weill Cornell Medical College, affiliated with New York Presbyterian Hospital, Cornell has an NYC outpost of its College of Architecture, Art & Planning, and several other NYC-based academic programs, some of them intended to provide a semester in the field for Ithaca-based students.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said the competition to build an applied science and technology campus within city limits is intended to position New York as strong competition for Silicon Valley, the area of central California known for high-tech developments.
Weill Cornell Medical College is named for Cornell alumnus and former Citigroup chairman and CEO Sanford Weill, who has made several donations to Cornell in excess of $100 million each. Most recently, Weill donated $170 million to WCMC in 2009, but a donation of $300 million from Weill and his wife Joan in 2007 was, at the time, the University's largest. Speculation on who could be responsible for this new donation included Weill and Mayor Bloomberg himself.
