Jeffrey Cardon emeritus citation, 2019
Jeff, for 37 years you have been a valuable member of the Cornell College community. You are well-respected among your colleagues and students, generous with your time, and innovative with your teaching.
You have an extremely diverse background with an undergraduate degree in physics and a PhD in molecular biology which has allowed you to teach a range of courses including a broad array of courses in biology, chemistry, and even computer science. Your versatility has allowed you to navigate being in two departments at the same time with each department feeling as if you were a full-time member. You were instrumental in developing our renowned biochemistry-molecular-biology program which, under your guidance, has grown to become one of the largest majors at Cornell and has served to train countless numbers of scientific researchers and healthcare professionals.
You have shown yourself to be a rigorous and innovative teacher. You have pushed your students to develop critical thinking skills that are broadly applicable to a wide range of problems across the disciplines. You have demonstrated the humility of seeking out feedback on your performance and adjusting to the changing needs of the students. You have a firm grasp of your many areas of expertise and are well-read; allowing you to continually bring new knowledge into your courses. You have mentored many students through laboratory research experiences on campus, have helped students find research opportunities outside of Cornell, and have guided them through the rigors of graduate applications.
During your service to the departments and on many committees of the college, you have demonstrated an uncanny ability to see the big picture, and you have a wonderful knack of cutting to the essence of an issue and finding the simple solution among the chaos. Your wit, clear judgement, and calm demeanor have been welcome in many difficult and important discussions. You have significantly impacted the curriculum in two departments and guided broader curricular decisions across the campus. Both Biology and Chemistry have benefitted from your technical skills related to maintaining and repairing vital instruments. These skills and abilities have saved us from expensive repair bills and kept our instruments running through many lean years.
You have served the Mount Vernon community through your leadership in your church and have helped mentor young minds through activities such as coaching our academic decathlon team. You are a model of integrity, faithfulness, and decency. You have been named the Sherman and Vera Shaffer Professor of Biology and Chemistry and master baker of cinnamon rolls. We honor you not just for what you have done but also for who you are.
