FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Cornell University announced today that Hunter R. Rawlings III, president of the Association of American Universities (AAU), will serve as the university’s interim president, effective April 25, in the wake of the untimely death of President Elizabeth Garrett.
As previously announced, Rawlings informed the AAU board of directors in May 2015 that he would retire from AAU when his contract expired at the end of May 2016. He has held his current position since 2011.
Mary Sue Coleman, a former president of the University of Michigan and the University of Iowa, will replace Rawlings at AAU.
Rawlings served as Cornell’s president from 1995 to 2003. This will be the second time he has held the position of interim president at Cornell, having carried out the role in 2005-06. Rawlings is also a former president of the University of Iowa.