Sculptures honoring a former ILR School faculty member who established social policies that affect millions of Americans and a woman who devoted her life to educational equity and affordable housing in Ithaca will be unveiled Aug. 17 in downtown Ithaca.
Frances Perkins, who taught at ILR from 1957-65, served as secretary of labor in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's administration from 1933-45 and was the architect of New Deal programs such as Social Security and unemployment insurance that continue to protect Americans.
Lucy Brown, a co-founder of Ithaca Neighborhood Housing Services, served on the Ithaca School Board, the Board of Public Works, the Ithaca Common Council and the Ithaca Urban Renewal Agency Board. She raised her children in Ithaca while working as an administrative staffer at Cornell. Brown, who moved to Atlanta in 2020 during the pandemic, will return to Ithaca for the unveiling.
Sculptor Meredith Bergmann works on her statue of Frances Perkins.
