President Mike Kotlikoff at the Rhodes Awards dinner with honorees Robert Everett ’65, Mary Jansen Everett ’66, Elisabeth Kaplan Boas ’71, Lisa Kremer Ullmann ’81, and Robert Harrison ’76; not pictured is Doris Goudsmit Albert ’57, who also attended the event. (Rachel Phillipson)

Bear Hugs

Meet the 2025 Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award Winners

The recipients of one of Cornell’s highest honors were recognized during Trustee-Council Annual Meeting in October

“Bear Hugs” celebrates heartwarming stories of Cornellians on the Hill and around the world. Have an idea? Email us at cornellians@cornell.edu!

Editor’s note: This story was adapted from coverage on the Alumni Affairs and Development website; the full story on each winner can be accessed by clicking their name.

By Jennifer Wholey ’10 & Cornellians staff

Each year, a small group of devoted Cornellians is recognized with the Frank H.T. Rhodes Exemplary Alumni Service Award. The honor, which goes to long-term volunteers who have dedicated themselves to a variety of Big Red alumni causes, is bestowed on a maximum of six people annually.

The award is, of course, named for Cornell’s ninth president.

Rhodes—who passed away in 2020 at age 93—was a beloved figure who retained close ties to the University and its alumni long after retiring with the title of president emeritus.

Cornell’s leader from 1977–95 (as well as a noted geologist, paleontologist, and Darwin scholar), Rhodes was the longest-serving president in the Ivy League when he stepped down.

At that time, almost half of the Big Red’s nearly 123,000 living undergrad alumni had attended while he was in office.

President Frank H.T. Rhodes — cornell university

The award in his honor was established in 1994—and for numerous years afterward, he and wife Rosa attended the celebration where it was presented.

Here’s a look at the 2025 winners:

Doris Goudsmit Albert ’57

Albert’s volunteer leadership began around her 30th Reunion, when she took charge of displays and memorabilia—putting together scrapbooks of items alumni brought back to show off from their school days. She quickly became known for her dedication, always arriving on campus several days early to help with setup.

“You just get in the groove with everybody else that does the same kind of thing,” she says. “It’s neat, because you can see what’s going on and what other classes are doing before you have to be totally busy with your own stuff.”

Albert is also a member of the Continuous Reunion Club, which she has found to be a chance to sit back and enjoy the event rather than focusing on planning.

She was a University Council member for 12 years and has been a Class of ’57 council member for decades—with roles ranging from nominating chair to class president, as well as Reunion chair three times.

Her second time chairing Reunion was for her class’s milestone 50th, something she doesn’t think she could have done the first time around.

“It’s a huge job, and being Reunion chair for the 50th is much bigger than the others,” she says. “There are many more people who come, many who come for the first time in 50 years.”

Elisabeth Kaplan Boas ’71

“I’ve always volunteered for Cornell,” Boas says. “I don’t remember a time I did not.”

Her Big Red connections began long before she ever set foot on campus as a student.

She grew up attending Reunion with her parents, Alan Kaplan ’44 and Erna Fox Kaplan ’45, BS ’44.

In high school, she helped ghost-write a Cornell Alumni News women’s column for her mother and assisted her father with paperwork for the Secondary Schools Committee, which later morphed into the Cornell Alumni Admissions Ambassador Network.

She was happy to pitch in, she says, because “that was the rule in our family. Everybody did what they could for the sake of the whole.”

Boas is currently the class correspondent for the Class of ’71, secretary for the Cornell Club of Washington, and a University Council life member.

And she likes to visibly represent her alma mater wherever she is in the world: she has a red car, red clothes, and red shoes, and has been lovingly described as a walking, talking Cornell mascot.

Says Boas: “There are so many ways to make a difference, to belong, to help make the University community welcoming.”

Mary Jansen Everett ’66 & Robert Everett ’65

For the Everetts, an introduction at a fraternity cocktail party 62 years ago led not only to a lifetime together, but to over six decades of connecting Cornellians.

“Within two minutes of meeting her,” Bob recalls, “I knew this woman was special.”

Mary Jansen Everett ’66 & Robert Everett ’65 — provided

Since graduating, the two have attended a combined 24 Reunions, and Mary has dedicated herself to the Class of ’66. As networking chair, she has spent countless hours searching for—and successfully finding—alumni who had fallen off the radar, and linking them back with their classmates and the University.

The Everetts’ mutual passion for athletics dovetailed with their commitment to Cornell when, in the mid-1970s, Bob—along with Jay Carter ’71, MEng ’72—helped canvas high school coaches in Westchester County, NY, to uncover top athletes who could play at an Ivy level.

The result: Big Red coaches could concentrate on recruiting at 10 local schools rather than 50.

Two of their children (Liz Everett Krisberg ’97 and Cate Everett, MMH ’19) also attended Cornell; they, their parents, and other relatives banded together to create the position of Everett Family Head Coach of Women’s Ice Hockey.

From September through March—the women’s hockey season—Bob and Mary drive throughout the country to attend every game, and Mary’s famous Thursday cookie deliveries (eight to 10 dozen weekly!) have become a cherished tradition for “their girls.”

“It’s not just giving money,” Mary emphasizes. “It’s being involved, getting to know them, helping them. I say we receive the best gift of all.”

Robert Harrison ’76

When Harrison accepted his offer of admission, he couldn’t have known how that decision would shape the next five decades of his life. From student trustee to chair of the Board of Trustees, he has helped guide Cornell through some of its most defining moments in recent decades.

Becoming a Cornellian, he says, “turned out to be the single biggest, best decision that I ever made.”

Harrison joined his class’s Reunion committee for his 5th, and hasn’t missed a Reunion yet. He co-chaired his 25th Reunion campaign committee and will co-chair again for his 50th in 2026.

Beyond his class responsibilities, he served on the board of directors of Sigma Phi beginning in the 1990s. Not long after, he was asked to join the University Council.

By 2002, the then-chair of the Board of Trustees, Harold Tanner ’52, called to ask if he would like to run as an alumni-elected trustee. Harrison went on to serve as a board-elected trustee before being elected chair in 2011.

Robert Harrison ’76 — cornell university

In his 22 years on the board, he chaired the Executive Committee and the student life committee, oversaw the creation of Cornell Tech, helped with the formation of the Johnson College of Business, played a key role in five presidential transitions, and guided residential life initiatives—including the launch of the West Campus housing system and North Campus expansion.

“Being able to contribute as a member of the Board of Trustees and then being able to chair the board was an incredible honor and a privilege,” he says, “because it allowed me to have a real impact on the University.”

Lisa Kremer Ullmann ’81

“I loved being at Cornell. I loved the people I met, the energy of the school,” Ullmann says. “There was never a dull moment.”

She met her husband, Michael Ullmann ’80, when they were both history majors. They had some classes together, went on one date, and kept in touch. (Six years after graduation, they began dating in earnest when Lisa moved to NYC.)

provided

Her Cornell volunteer career began at her 5th Reunion, where she joined in class fundraising.

That early involvement has spun into eight Reunions, and sparked what would become nearly 45 years of continuous service. One of her favorite activities has been organizing Red Hot Hockey / Frozen Apple tickets for the Class of ’81 since the event’s inception.

Ullmann is particularly passionate about her involvement with the President’s Council of Cornell Women (PCCW). She served as vice chair for four years and headed the development committee.

“I have really loved being part of PCCW,” she says. “It’s such a dynamic group of women, such interesting people with different interests and backgrounds and passions—not dissimilar to why I loved being at Cornell.”

Ullmann splits her time between Princeton, NJ, and Florida. Her involvement with the Cornell Club of Southwest Florida began serendipitously, during an afternoon run in Naples in October 2019.

“I ran in my neighborhood and saw Cornell flags on a lawn,” she recalls. “Here I am—sweaty running—I went and knocked on this door, and they were having Zinck’s Night!”

Top, from left: President Mike Kotlikoff at the Rhodes Awards dinner with honorees Robert Everett ’65, Mary Jansen Everett ’66, Elisabeth Kaplan Boas ’71, Lisa Kremer Ullmann ’81, and Robert Harrison ’76; not pictured is Doris Goudsmit Albert ’57, who also attended the event. (Photo by Rachel Phillipson)

Published November 7, 2025