1. Frank H.T. Rhodes

For our final post, we're featuring someone who "graduated" from Cornell at the same time as our class. The words at the top of the blog, that Cornell students "dream bigger dreams" are from his 1995 commencement speech, and he'll be back in Ithaca with us next week for our 20th Reunion. We couldn't be happier to call Frank Rhodes an honorary member of the Class of 1995. 

Hope to see everyone back on the Hill in a few days to catch up and celebrate!

Bonita Springs, Florida & Ithaca, New York 

Tell us about what you have been doing since you left Cornell.

Well, I retired when your class graduated in '95. And for the first few years, I did a great deal of traveling. I was a member of half a dozen boards, General Electric and the Mellon Foundation and I was Chair of the National Science Board for a while. And that took an immense amount of time. Since about two years ago, I've done much less. We now divide our time between Ithaca and Florida. I am in Florida at the moment, enjoying the sunshine.

What is one of your favorite memories of your time at Cornell?

You know, the memories crowd in. I think the happiest times were just meeting with faculty, staff, and especially students. We would have a student breakfast once a week and it was kind of an open house. We restricted the numbers, as I remember it, to 25. And people could just come and talk about anything they wanted to. They were always overbooked and those were really some of the best times. But I must say I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. There were no downs, it was all up and whether it was on campus people, students, faculty, or alumni or trustees, it was just such a positive time in our lives. We are still in touch. When we are down here we go to various Cornell events and we go to events in the city periodically. We are going to one next month. And we participate in activities in Ithaca from time to time. But we really have, I really have, retired. And I spend what time I have writing books.

    Do you have any advice for students starting at Cornell this year? 

Make the most of it. It's the richest experience possible. It’s four brief years and it flies by. It is just such a magical time. And I know that, not because I have been a student there, but because we have had grandchildren who have been students there. As undergraduates and at the graduate school. One was an undergraduate, one from the medical school, and the two granddaughters are undergraduates, and a third is a PhD there. So we know firsthand as a family what a great place it is.

55. Jeff and Julie Speiser

Celebration, Florida · Arts and Sciences

Names at Cornell
Jeff Speiser and Julie Allen

jeffspeiser@gmail.com
juliespeiser@aol.com

Twitter: @jeffspeiser

Facebook: 
https://www.facebook.com/jeffspeiser
https://www.facebook.com/julie.speiser

Tell us about what you're doing with your life.
We're living in Celebration, FL which is just a few minutes away from Walt Disney World, with our son Connor (13) and daughter Willow (10). It's definitely a change of pace from our past residences in Leonia, NJ and Ann Arbor, MI. 

Julie is working as a training specialist for Disney Cruise Line, where she trains the cast members in the call center, so if you ever call to book a cruise, ask if they know Julie!

Jeff is a marketing and design consultant for Disney's Global Creativity division and Disney Institute, where he helps come up with marketing ideas for Disney Parks around the world.

What was your favorite class at Cornell, or the one you found the most useful?
Jeff: 
Visual Anthropology with Professor Robert Ascher. The conversations that we had in that class were very informal (we sat on tree stumps in the middle of his office), but were some of the best discussions that I've ever had. I loved the informal nature of the class while still getting a lot done. It was also a unique way to learn about people of different cultures.

Julie: 
I remember taking a Children's Literature class and loving every moment of it. It had nothing to do with my major, but I loved reading all the original Grimm's fairytales, discovering how scary and gruesome the original Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty tales truly were! For years I taught theater and creative writing to where the kids would write their own "fairytale" and then I would direct their performance. My final project in that class was a presentation on the original Bambi story and how Walt Disney "Disney-fied it." Strange how I ended up working for his company years later!

What is your favorite memory of your time at Cornell?
Jeff:
Julie and I got married at the A.D. White house, so I'd have to say our wedding reception there.

Julie: 
I remember participating in many theater performances at the Center for Performing Arts and having rehearsals until 11:00 pm. Before trecking across the campus to my dorm in Risley Hall, we would call my boyfriend (now husband) Jeff and ask him to order a pizza from Rogans—1 medium pizza and 2 free Pepsis for $5.95 (273-6006). It was the best snack after a long rehearsal and before starting to study. Couldn't beat the price either!

What random or surprising encounters with Cornell or Cornellians have you experienced since you left?
Jeff: 
Working at Disney, you see people from all over the world every day. I'v been in Walt Disney World and have seen guests wearing a Cornell shirt or a cast member with Cornell on their name tag (if they're doing an internship) and it starts a conversation. Just this past week I met a young woman working in my building who was doing an internship in marketing.

Julie:
My family went to see The Lion King when it came to Orlando. As we were sitting in the audience before the show, I noticed an insert about a switch for one of the actors for the performance. It said that Tony Freeman would be playing Timon that day. Turns out it was the same Tony Freeman that I had worked with as his TA while he was a Guest Artist in Residence at Cornell! It was incredible after the show to express to him how he inspired me to become a teacher and we even got a backstage tour!