波拉克校长生于1958年8月27日,于1979年在达特茅斯大学获得了语言学本科学士,之后在宾夕法尼亚大学同时获得计算机的理学硕士和博士学位,并于1986年毕业。她从1985年到1992年在非盈利的斯坦福大学国际研究院任职,1991年至2000年在匹兹堡大学任教。2000年加入密西根大学后,又于2007年成为密歇根大学信息学院院长,2010年成为密西根大学副教务长,2013年成为密西根大学教务长。

在专业领域方面,波拉克校长曾任1997年国际人工智能联合会议的项目主席,并于2001年至2005年期间任《人工智能研究杂志》主编,2009年至2010年任人工智能促进协会主席。自2012年以来也是计算机协会和美国科学促进会协会的成员。她是AI人工智能方面的电脑专家,在设计、自然语言处理和辅助认知识别等学术领域均有卓越贡献。

玛莎·伊丽莎白·波拉克本人发表的就任通告原文如下:

Dear Members of the Cornell University Community,

I am honored to begin my service today as Cornell University’s 14th president and to join all of you in shaping the future of this distinguished institution. The Board of Trustees has entrusted me with a great responsibility, and I will do my utmost to deserve their confidence and yours.

I am grateful to Hunter and Elizabeth Rawlings, who have brought enlightened leadership and their personal warmth to the university over more than two decades, including during some very difficult times. My husband, Ken Gottschlich, and I have learned so much from them, and we wish them all the best as they pick up their long-deferred retirement plans.

Like five previous Cornell presidents, I come to Cornell from the University of Michigan, which shares many of Cornell’s fundamental values: its commitment to discovery through research, scholarship and creative activity; its dedication to teaching and learning; its belief in egalitarianism and in the importance of diversity; and its determination to serve the greater good through public engagement.

With its deep academic and cultural roots in Ithaca and its expanding presence in New York City, Cornell is at an exciting moment, with burgeoning intellectual collaborations across all its campuses that are creating, curating and communicating knowledge and providing unrivaled opportunities for teaching, learning, and societal contribution.

Over the next weeks and months, I will be learning from you about the full breadth and depth of Cornell. I am looking forward to our work together and, with your help, to making Cornell an even more distinguished and distinctive university.

 

Sincerely,

Martha E. Pollack
President

康奈尔大学目前在全球共有三个校区,学生人数超过22000名,拥有学校基金已超过60亿美元。学校希望新的校长和全新的曼哈顿科技校区能带动这所古老的大学进入一次全新的升级和改变。