Elizabeth Garrett

Helen Elizabeth Garrett, commonly known as Elizabeth Garrett or Beth Garrett (June 30, 1963 – March 6, 2016), was an American professor of law and academic administrator. On July 1, 2015, she became the 13th president of Cornell University—the first woman to serve as president of the university. She died from colon cancer on March 6, 2016, the first Cornell president to die while in office.

Early life and education Garrett was born in Oklahoma City on June 30, 1963, to Robert and Jane Garrett. According to her mother, Garrett began to read very early and thereafter was never seen without a book in her hand. At age 3, according to Jane, young Garrett announced she would be a lawyer—Garrett, more modestly, claimed she was 5.

After law school, Garrett clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and for Judge Stephen F. Williams on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She also served as a legal advisor at the Iran–United States Claims Tribunal at The Hague and as legislative director and tax and budget counsel for Senator David L. Boren of Oklahoma. She was also co-editor of Fiscal Challenges: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Budget Policy and Statutory Interpretation Stories.

Career at the University of Southern California

Garrett began her tenure at the University of Southern California in 2003 as the Frances R. and John J. Duggan Professor of Law and Vice Provost.

In 2005, U.S. President George W. Bush appointed Garrett to serve on the nine-member bipartisan President's Advisory Panel for Federal Tax Reform. Garrett withdrew her nomination on May 29, 2009, citing "aspects of my personal family situation."

From 2009 to 2014, she served on the California Fair Political Practices Commission. She also served as director of the USC-Caltech Center for the Study of Law and Politics. Garrett also served on the boards of the Initiative & Referendum Institute at USC and on the Internet2 Board of Directors. She also hired Provost Professors and founded the Provost's Postdoctoral Scholars Program in the Humanities. which the Board of Trustees accepted in December 2011. The university's search for a president began when incumbent president David J. Skorton announced in March 2014 that he would be leaving Cornell on June 30, 2015, to become the next secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. She was selected after a six-month search in which some two hundred candidates were considered.

Inauguration Ceremony Garrett's inauguration ceremony was held on September 18, 2015, on the Arts Quadrangle of Cornell University. She delivered her inaugural address in front of the iconic statue of Ezra Cornell. She spoke of "the spirit of Cornell that frames our journey" and stressed the importance of the faculty as the foundation of the university; students as partners in the voyage of discovery; and the university's growing presence in New York City as a source of opportunity. Garrett said that the recruitment, development and retention of the best faculty remained Cornell University's paramount priorities. She also spoke of focusing on the residential undergraduate experience, defining as a community the shared intellectual experience all Cornell students should encounter.

Tenure at Cornell University Although she served as Cornell's president for 7 months, Garrett was popular with students and actively involved in campus issues, working to ameliorate housing problems for graduate students, approving the opening of Anabel's Grocery store, rearranging administrative leadership and defending freedom of speech on campus.

Several of Garrett's decisions also sparked controversy, including her reversal of President Emeritus David Skorton’s 2035 carbon neutrality goal and the January 2016 decision to form the College of Business. Many members of the Cornell community, including students, faculty and alumni, criticized Garrett’s decisions and the lack of transparency in the administration's decision-making.

Garrett also emphasized the importance of supporting every Cornell constituency and often expressed her support for students and faculty. She also said that it is important to provide ample support for students so that they can both contribute to and gain from their academic experience. She was the first Cornell president to die while in office. She underwent surgery February 19, 2016, and officially delegated the duties and powers of the presidency to Provost Michael Kotlikoff, as provided by the Cornell University Bylaws. On February 22, 2016, acting president Michael Kotlikoff announced that she had been released from the intensive care unit and would continue treatment under the care of doctors at Weill Cornell Medicine.

The Cornell community gathered across campus in the late afternoon of March 7, 2016, to pay their respects to Garrett. More than a thousand university leaders, students, faculty, staff and local community members met on the Cornell Arts Quadrangle, the same ground that fewer than six months earlier saw the celebration of Garrett's inauguration. Several speakers shared their memories of Garrett and how she had influenced them. On March 8, 2016, Dr. Laurie Glimcher, the Stephen and Suzanne Weiss Dean of Weill Cornell Medicine, announced the launch of the President Elizabeth Garrett Fund for Colon Cancer Research.

Garrett was survived by her husband, Israeli legal philosopher Andrei Marmor, the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Philosophy and Law at Cornell University; her parents, Robert and Jane Garrett; and a sister, Laura Garrett.

One of Garrett's hobbies was cross-stitching. Crain's Chicago Business “40 Under 40” Award for Most Influential Young Chicagoans (2000)