WHEREAS, The Olin Lecture was “established at Cornell in 1986 through a gift from the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Foundation to annually bring to campus an internationally prominent speaker to address a topic relevant to higher education and the current world situation”; and

WHEREAS, The Graduate School solicited the Graduate and Professional Student Assembly (GPSA) for increased input in the selection of the Olin Lecturer, beginning in 2013–14; and

WHEREAS, The selection criteria established by the Graduate School are as follows:

• 1) The speaker should not have previously served as the Olin Lecturer;
• 2) The speaker should have a Ph.D. or highest degree in the field;
• 3) The speaker should have a national or international reputation for scholarship or excellence in the field;
• 4) The speaker’s research should be of interest to a number of disciplines in order to facilitate discussion among faculty and students in a variety of fields;
• 5) The honorarium requested should be in the range of $20,000 to $40,000�generally toward the lower end of the scale;
• 6) The speaker must be willing to interact with students in classroom and informal settings as well as to present the public lecture; and
• 7) The speaker must be available for the public lecture, the breakfast, the lunch, and the classroom discussion (generally 1–1/2 to 2 days); therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the GPSA forms an ad hoc Olin Speaker Selection Committee.

RESOLVED, That the committee shall solicit nominations from the graduate student community at Cornell.

RESOLVED, That the committee shall develop and implement a procedure for producing a ranked list of two to three recommended lecturers, bearing in mind the selection criteria.

RESOLVED, That this list shall remain confidential, to respect the privacy of the recommended lecturers.

RESOLVED, That this list shall be transmitted to the Dean of the Graduate School no later than the last day of classes, May 5, 2012.

RESOLVED, That the Graduate School shall retain the ultimate ability to select the Olin Lecturer.

RESOLVED, That the GPSA President, in the letter to next year’s assembly, shall exhort future Assemblies to form a similar committee for future academic years.

Respectfully submitted,
Evan Cortens
President, Graduate and Professional Student Assembly