Cornell’s average full-time faculty salary has increased yet again — rising 2.5 percent from last year, according to a report released earlier this month by the American Association of University Professors.

After analyzing the results of the 2011 Cornell-wide employee survey, University administrators said that they are concerned that cuts are overburdening staff with increased workloads.

Getting a high SAT score, earning a 4.0 GPA and running the student government just don’t seem to cut it anymore for college admissions officers. It turns out that hopeful high school seniors should also have parents with deep bank accounts.  

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson discussed the recession, the current economic situation and the future in his talk in Bailey Hall Thursday.

Although industry-wide occupancy decreased by 12 to 15 percent during the recession, occupancy at The Statler only dropped by eight percent.

Faculty members who had been eager to see the University’s strategic planning task force reports got their wish last Friday when Provost Kent Fuchs released the documents to the public. Most faculty members have praised the decision as a giant step towards greater transparency in the “Reimagining Cornell” process. According to the Dean of Faculty’s Office, approximately 27 people have read the reports thus far — at least 13 of whom were University faculty members.

Correction Appended

In the wake of substantial budget cuts for Cornell’s libraries, the University signed a deal this past weekend to sell a 95,000 volume duplicative collection in Uris Library to Tsinghua University in Beijing, according to Anne Kenney, University librarian for the Carl A. Kroch Library.

Cornell has been collaborating with Tsinghua on research projects, faculty exchanges and student work and study options for the past decade. In 2004, former Cornell President Jeffrey Lehman '77 visited Tsinghua to initiate a “strategic partnership,” which laid the groundwork for future cooperation in the fields of engineering and physical sciences, according to the Cornell website.

The traditional Swedish lawn game of kubb, complimentary apples and cookies, and Swedish music on the Arts Quad yesterday helped spark dialogue among faculty and students regarding the Dutch and Swedish programs, which are slated for termination by the end of this academic year.

The University announced yesterday that it has plans to save $90 million through administrative streamlining. President David Skorton and Provost Kent Fuchs also unveiled at a staff “Reimagining Cornell” forum a new set of cost-cutting guidelines that would, among other things, promote University-wide savings at the expense of colleges’ autonomous decision-making.

About 75 staff members attended the presentation in Biotech G10 yesterday, which was the fourth installment in a series of forums aimed at informing the community about strategic planning initiatives. This event was the first that directly addressed the concerns of the University’s administrative staff.

Approximately 2,400 students attended the first day of Cornell’s annual University Career Fair Days yesterday, sanitizing their hands between handing out resumes as fears of the H1N1 virus continue to grow.

The two-day long event began with the General Interest Career Fair, aimed at recruiting students of all majors and backgrounds for creative and business-oriented positions. The second day is focused on recruiting for engineering and technical positions.

A special “No Handshake Policy” was put into effect at this year’s fair to ease students’ and employers’ fears of getting sick.