Campus News in Brief
Cohon travels to Switzerland
The 2008 World Economic Forum, held the week of Jan. 23, was marked by the presence of political and economic leaders from around the globe. Co-chairs at the event included the former prime minister of the United Kingdom, Tony Blair, and a former U.S. secretary of state, Henry Kissinger.
Although many of the participants, including actress Emma Thompson and U2’s Bono, are by no means strangers to Carnegie Mellon students, one in particular was exceedingly familiar: President Jared L. Cohon. Cohon was one of many who journeyed to the forum in Davos, Switzerland to discuss the issues faced by today’s society.
“The invitation to take part in the Forum is a sign that Carnegie Mellon’s commitment to becoming a global university has been recognized, and that our university is seen as a place of creativity, innovation and knowledge generation with a key role to play in meeting the world’s most urgent needs,” Cohon commented in a press release.
The World Economic Forum is based in Geneva, Switzerland and was founded in 1971 by Klaus Schwab, who at that time was a professor of business administration at the University of Geneva. It is designed to help improve the state of the world and to give political leaders a unique opportunity to discuss current issues in a neutral setting.
The forum is an opportunity for discussion and change and, as Cohon stated in a press release, “participating in the World Economic Forum is a great honor for me and my university.”
Ice dancing pair in nationals
Although it is common for Carnegie Mellon students to have diverse interests, junior Peter Rodgers-Fischl takes it to an extreme.
Fischl, a chemical and biomedical engineering double major and an Army ROTC participant, also happens to be a national competitor in the sport of ice dancing. His partner, Marsha Synder, is the coach of the Robert Morris University collegiate synchronized skating team.
After placing second in the U.S. Figure Skating Eastern Sectionals in November, Fischl and Synder earned a spot at the U.S. Figure Skating Senior Ice Dancing national championship. The event was held in St. Paul, Minn. between Jan. 23rd and Jan. 26. Before leaving for the competition, Fischl stated in a press release, “This the event of my lifetime. I’ve been training for 15 years. We get to go on the ice with Olympic teams.”
Although Fischl and Synder have plenty of experience as individual skaters, they have only been practicing together for about one year while most pairs at the national level have had four or five years of experience as a team.
Despite this disadvantage, the pair is coming on strong, placing 12th in the national competition after the open dance portion on Friday, Jan. 25.