2011 Helen Bull Vandervort Award Recipient
Rebecca Q. Morgan '60

A recognized public servant and philanthropist, Becky leads numerous initiatives in support of family and youth, environmental stewardship, education, and economic and community development.

Becky graduated from Human Ecology with a bachelor’s degree in science. She and her husband Jim Morgan BME ’62, MBA ’63 are Cornell Foremost Benefactors for their generous support of the university. Becky has endowed the College of Human Ecology deanship; a professorship in Fiber Science & Apparel Design (FSAD); and a graduate teaching assistantship in Human Development. She has also funded a 3-D body scanner for FSAD research and several Cornell Tradition scholarships.

In her career, Becky has been a teacher, a bank officer, and an elected official. From 1984-1993, she served as a state senator in California’s 11th District in the Silicon Valley region. Becky has also acted as president and CEO of Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network, a leading multi-sector collaboration to grow the region.

Becky serves as president of the Morgan Family Foundation, founded in 1993 to fund work in the areas of family and youth, education, environmental conservation, and stewardship of regions and organizations. In 2008, the Foundation committed $1 million to start the California Stewardship Project, a program to address economic, environmental, and community challenges in ten regions of the state. Becky is also co-founder of Teen Success, a national program helping teenage mothers to complete their education and avoid expanding family until emotionally and financially ready, and the Northern Sierra Partnership for the preservation of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.