Other duties as assigned
When first hired at Cornell as staff, many of us imagined assisting and advising students, training students, creating marketing materials to recruit students, or fundraising for campaigns to enhance the student experience on the Hilltop.
What we could not have imagined was that small print on many of our job descriptions that states: other duties as assigned.
Seamstress
“My first year working at Cornell [1985-1986], the Office of College Communications was planning a 100th birthday celebration for Bowman-Carter Hall (just Bowman Hall back then). The event included a tea in the formal lounge of Bowman, and we wanted to have the student wait staff decked out in appropriate period dress. So I headed to Theatre Cedar Rapids to search its costume shop for long black skirts to borrow. The women were to wear white blouses with wide sashes adorning the waist of the skirt. For these, I made a trip to Joann’s Fabrics and purchased two shades of satin material to make them. I brought my sewing machine to my office in Old Sem (since I was an hourly employee and we didn’t work remotely in those days), and sewed away. My iron, sans ironing board, was also in tow.”
Lora Baltes
Administrative Assistant for Alumni and College Advancement
Secret Santa
“At a range of events over the years, I’ve been asked to dress in various costumes and make appearances. My favorites include Santa Claus, Captain America, and Bob Barker. Once, dressed as Santa, I worked my way through the dining rooms spreading good cheer with students—who were in great moods just before winter break. Not being recognizable, I was able to make comments in Santa’s voice using personal references with students I knew—like which fraternity or sorority they were in, the name of their roommate, which athletic team they were on, or which class they were taking that block—like ‘don’t be late for Professor Tepper’s class Jimmy; you’ll be on the naughty list!’—which just blew their minds and sent them and their friends laughing.”
John Harp
Special Assistant to the President
Detective
“When Pfeiffer Hall was evacuated at 1 a.m. by the fire alarm system, we knew from the evidence that someone was seen running out of a kitchen with something smoking. The smoke also was burning people’s eyes for some unknown reason. I searched every trash can on the building’s perimeter and found a smoldering cup of spicy noodles. This helped us identify the student for an educational conversation.”
Dan Chou
Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life
Mascot technician
“It didn’t seem odd that I would be involved in replacing the campus mascot costume. It was surprising, however, when I had to connect with the manufacturer to try to find out what material Ulysses’ face was made of, because he’d gotten scratches on his nose while out and about on campus. It’s spray paint, by the way, and the company is in Canada, so they gave me a specific paint color that you can’t get in the U.S. After a few trials, I found the right color of spray paint, created a plastic and painter’s tape shield to ensure I didn’t get paint on the wrong parts of Ulysses, and completed minor cosmetic surgery to get him back to perfect health.”
Jen Visser
Senior Director of Marketing and Interactive Media
Jewelry assistant
“A student had a clasp break on her necklace and she was on her way to work at a clothing store. The necklace was the only jewelry she owned. I called Facilities to bring a soldering gun and together we were able to repair the jewelry so she could go to work.”
Mark Winder
Director of Campus Safety
Gamer
“Early in the pandemic, when Animal Crossing New Horizons had just been released and was super popular, one of our students made a custom Cornell “C” hoodie in-game and I staged an in-game photoshoot on my island for our Instagram, complete with purple and white flowers and an Educimus town hall flag.”
Hannah Dunn
Creative Director
View a photo of Dunn’s Animal Crossing character sporting their love of Cornell.
Lego wrangler
“I have been practicing my logistics skills in regards to getting our Hilltop Legos out the door to deposited first-year students [King Chapel Lego set and a McLennan College Hall Lego set]. Getting them into bins, sorting them, counting them, packaging them up … certainly nothing that falls under my true job description.”
Marie Schofer
Associate Director of Admission and International Recruitment
Critter controller
“One time there was a raccoon that had gotten into the basement of Luce [Admission Center] overnight. It had a heyday down there.
We weren’t sure whether he was still there—he had left some “evidence”—so I volunteered to go into the basement to scope it out—and then quickly ran back out and slammed the basement door! Yikes!”
Sharon Grice
Director of Admission Operations
Chops inspector
“I helped with room checks (to be sure things were unplugged and windows were closed in the residence halls before break) at the end of the fall semester in 2020. The most interesting thing I found while doing that was a package of pork chops sitting on the floor in a hallway in Pauley Rorem. As the daughter of a pig farmer, I was glad to see our students supporting the pork industry, but a little sad they didn’t get to enjoy them before leaving for winter break!”
Brooke Paulsen
Director of Student Success
Yulysses decorator
“It was Christmas of 2018, and the Office of Marketing and Communications wanted to help bring the fun to campus for the holiday season. We brainstormed ideas and decided to decorate our mascot, Ulysses the Ram. He was draped from head to toe in sparkling lights, garland, ornaments of every shape and size, and, yes, we even put a large silver bow on top. I created a cute video of the process that we shared as part of the fun. Afterward, we took a picture, printed out an enlarged version, and passed it around campus. We giggled in delight each time a new office received Yulysses and took a photo with him to post on social media!”
Jill Hawk
Public Relations and Digital Content Director
Brew escort
“I drove across campus in a golf cart filled with beer left over from our dining services. I was so worried the bottles would break on my way to the event!”
Kristi Webster Columbus ’96
Associate Vice President for Alumni and College Advancement
