After serving eight months as interim president, Michael Kotlikoff has been named Cornell’s 15th president in a vote by the Cornell Board of Trustees on Friday.
This appointment is effective immediately, according to an email sent out to the Cornell community from Board of Trustees chair Kraig H. Kayser MBA ’84 and incoming chair Anne Meinig Smalling ’87.
Kotlikoff was named interim president on May 9, 2024, following former president Martha Pollack’s announcement of retirement. He was slated to serve two years as interim president, with a search committee intended to select the next president six to nine months prior to the end of Kotlikoff’s term.
In June 2024, Kotlikoff announced a search committee for the selection of his replacement as provost that included "a very broad swath of folks to participate, from across colleges, constituencies and academic disciplines, as well as undergraduate and graduate student representation." The committee invited the Cornell community to provide their input on the selection through an online survey as well as a confidential mailbox.
However, there was no public announcement of the selection process for president — which took place significantly earlier than scheduled — nor was an official committee or community input system named.
When asked why Cornell decided to end its two-year search for a permanent president or whether external candidates were considered, Cornell Media Relations referred The Sun to the Friday email announcing Kotlikoff’s election and the Cornell Chronicle article. However, neither directly addressed the two questions.
When asked about his plans for the time after his interim presidency in a September interview with The Sun, Kotlikoff said that he would "almost certainly retire," after completing his two-year interim presidency term.
“I closed my lab a few years ago. I still teach a little bit, but I'll retire at that point,” he said at the time.
When asked why he was serving a two-year term as interim president, Kotlikoff said, “The two-year term is to give stability. I was provost, and if I now become president on an interim basis or on an acting basis, and we immediately start searching for a president we would have to start searching for a president and a provost at the same time.”
Kotlikoff suggested that the next president will “most likely be an external candidate and one who's not as familiar with Cornell.”
During his 25 years at Cornell, Kotlikoff has worked as a lab director, professor, teacher and mentor, researcher, department chair and dean.
As interim president, Kotlikoff established a firm stance on expressive activity.
“While this right [freedom of expression] is foundational, it is not unlimited,” Kotlikoff wrote in an August University statement. “The expressive activities of individuals necessarily unfold within the context of our broader university community, and as such they are bounded by the need to protect the core functions of the university and the reciprocal rights of others.”
Going into the position of interim president, Kotlifkoff and Provost Kavita Bala established in February a new task force to prevent sexual assault on campus.
As interim president, Kotlikoff also formed a Presidential Task Force on Institutional Voice, which outlined how and when the University should speak institutionally on politics, ideology, current affairs and world events. He formed the task force a year after he and then-president Pollack provided an update on its Interim Expressive Activity Policy addressing concerns about free expression restrictions on March 11, 2024.
Kotlikoff formerly served as founding chair of the biomedical sciences department, the dean of the College of Veterinary Medicine and provost. He served for nearly nine years and stands as the longest-serving provost in Cornell history.
As provost, Kotlikoff oversaw the Radical Collaboration Initiative, the creation of the SC Johnson College of Business and the Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy. He also contributed to the North Campus Residential Expansion project and assisted with Cornell’s COVID-19 response.
Kotlikoff emphasized the importance of freedom and responsibility under his leadership in his introduction letter to the Cornell community after accepting the role of interim president.
“In contentious times, it is particularly important that each of us understand and honor the freedoms and responsibilities that we have as Cornellians,” Kotlikoff wrote. “To listen to and respect each other’s views, and to build a community where everyone feels they belong.”
