The board of trustees of Ithaca College in New York has voted unanimously to name La Jerne Terry Cornish as the tenth president of Ithaca College. The appointment is effective immediately as Dr. Cornish has been serving as interim president since August 30, 2021.
“I feel honored and blessed to have been chosen as the tenth president of Ithaca College,” Dr. Cornish said. “This is a time of challenge but also of opportunity for the college. Together — with our commitment to the IC student experience firmly centered as our guide — we will move our college ever forward as we work to realize our vision to become a global destination for bold thinkers seeking to build thriving communities.”
Ithaca College enrolls more than 5,300 undergraduate students and about 400 graduate students according to the most recent data available from the U.S. Department of Education. African Americans make up 6 percent of the undergraduate student body.
Before being named interim president, Dr. Cornish served as provost and senior vice president for academic affairs at the college since 2018. Earlier, she was associate provost for undergraduate studies at Goucher College in Baltimore. She joined the faculty at Goucher in 1998 as an instructor of English.
Dr. Cornish holds a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in education from Goucher College. She earned a Ph.D. in language, literacy, and culture from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
