The University of Wyoming’s former president, Dr. Robert Sternberg will be making the move to Ithaca, New York this February. Mere months after Sternberg resigned as president under less than desirable circumstances, Cornell University hired him as a professor in the College of Human Ecology. During his tenure at the University, three deans and five administrators resigned their positions.
Cornell issued a press release, welcoming Sternberg with open arms. In the release, Alan Mathios, Dean of the College of Human Ecology, described his excitement for Sternberg to make the move.
“Bob is one of the top psychologists in the nation, and I am delighted he is joining the faculty,” Mathios said.
Sternberg shared in Mathios’ excitement as the former president claimed the move from president to professor was in his and Wyoming’s best interests. In an interview given to The Cornell Daily Sun, Sternberg claimed he felt he didn’t fit in at Wyoming.
“U.W. deserves a president that shares its goals, and I needed to be an educational leader in an university that shared my goals. It is simply a matter of fit, I did not fit in there,” he said.
Many faculty and staff members at Wyoming agree with Sternberg’s claim that he did not fit in here.
“He failed here at his position at the University of Wyoming,” said Dr. Donal O’Toole. “He could be very good in the classroom,” O’Toole said. “He may be where here really belongs, in an ivy, where he has the credentials and his past will be unexamined. Perhaps Wyoming was just a little too real for him.”
O’Toole is not alone in his feelings on Sternberg’s new academic position. In a statement given by Sternberg, he explained how excited and enthusiastic he was to make the move to Cornell. In response to Sternberg’s remarks, Dr. Charles Ksir made his feelings about Sternberg’s decision very clear, saying he shared his enthusiasm.
Neither Wyoming nor Cornell are calling Sternberg’s new position as a professor a demotion, but there are some who believe that the new position is a clear sign that Sternberg’s time at Wyoming was a failure.
“He made a pig’s mickey out of his job here,” said O’Toole. “From start to finish. It would have been nice for them to have said the man failed.”
Though Wyoming is still dealing with the aftermath of Sterberg’s time here, all parties involved agree that Sternberg will be better suited at Cornell, far away from Wyoming.
