Cornell Blog: An unofficial blog about Cornell University

According to the Cornell Daily Sun, the body of Khalil Jamal King has been recovered from the Fall Creek Gorge this past Sunday (see also Body of Cornell sophomore found in gorge). The Cornell sophomore was enrolled in College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS). According to the Sun, Khalil was startled and accidentally fell into the gorge:

“At this time, foul play is not suspected,” Wheatley said. “We feel very confident [King’s death] was accidental,” said Kathy Zoner, chief of the Cornell University Police Department. “He got startled by something.”

Facebook profile picture of Khalil King

Khalil, according to his Facebook profile, was a profligate dancer and rapper, Hollister Co. model, well-traveled, and associated with the Charlotte Coalition for Social Justice. He described himself, in his own words on Facebook, as “dope as Zoloft, a big shot, a show off,” smiling in all his pictures.

Tonight there is a Light Up the Night for Khalil Jamal King event on Ho Plaza. Please direct all your thoughts to the Facebook page “RIP Khalil King”, created “in accordance with the wishes of Khalil’s family to preserve his last actions on his facebook profile.”

Just when I thought the whole collegetown creeper thing was dead and buried, I get this from one “Gabriel Sanchez” on Facebook:

Subject: media croney (sic)

I WILL WRITE IN “ALL CAPS” THAT I DO NOT LIKE HOW YOU CUT DOWN LISA A. LAKE IN YOUR CYNICAL “METRO”-STYLE STORY ON HER EX, ABRAHAM SHOREY..YOU DO NOT HAVE MUCH OF A SOUL.
YOUR WRITING IS ALSO VERY POOR. I THINK YOU SUCK DICK, ASSHOLE.

Sigh…

This is already old news–according to New name ‘Information Engineering’ reflects changing times for operations research school by the Cornell Chronicle in 2007–Cornell ORIE changed its name from “Operations Research & Industrial Engineering” to “Operations Research & Information Engineering” in order to “communicate their academic mission more clearly.”

As the economy evolved into a predominantly service industry, “industrial engineering” in the school’s title began to feel obsolete. “For virtually any element of the service industry, a primary commodity is information,” Shmoys said. “And that is exactly the reflection of what’s going on in the name change.”

Serious consideration for the change began a little over a year ago, according to school director Jim Renegar. The process involved discussions with Dean Kent Fuchs, other engineering directors and chairs, approval from Provost Biddy Martin and, eventually, presentation to the Cornell Board of Trustees.

This came as a surprise to me. When I graduated in 2006, the ORIE webpage looked like this:

Now the ORIE webpage has its new name:

It’s interesting to reflect on how things change as time passes. ORIE is not the only Cornell division to receive a rebranding–there’s now a faculty of Computing and Information Science–and the future undoubtedly holds many more, as Cornell attempts to stay relevant in relentlessly changing times.