CEMI News & Momentum Stories
As CEMI-DEEP continues to move forward, we’d love to hear from you about how the project is progressing and ensure you have access to the latest information and resources.
🎉 Help Shape the Future of CEMI-DEEP
Your feedback is an important part of our change journey. We invite all colleagues to complete the new Readiness Assessment survey, designed to help us understand how our community is experiencing the project and where we can provide additional support.
The survey takes less than five minutes to complete and is the first of a series of planned quarterly check-ins.
Please complete the survey by end of business on Tuesday, June 9, 2026.
The assessment focuses on four key areas:
- Awareness & Preparedness – How well do you understand the upcoming tools and process changes?
- Identified Barriers – What are the potential risks or hurdles to adoption we should address early?
- Refining Our Strategy – How could communications, training, and change management activities better meet your needs?
- Support Enhancement – How can we address “readiness gaps” identified by the survey?
🎉 Project Team Completes HIPAA Privacy Onboarding Training
As part of our commitment to responsible data stewardship, members of the CEMI-DEEP project team recently completed mandatory HIPAA Privacy Onboarding Training in preparation for the implementation of Kindsight ascend.
This training helps ensure that project team members understand the privacy requirements and responsibilities associated with working in environments that involve patient data at Weill Cornell Medicine and reinforces our commitment to maintaining the highest standards of data protection throughout the implementation process.
You can read more about this milestone here.
🔍 Explore the Updated Donor and Engagement Experience Project Website
We’ve also refreshed the DEEP website with additional information to help you stay informed and engaged throughout the project.
Highlights include:
- Project updates and announcements to keep you informed of major milestones and decisions.
- Project background and goals that explain how CEMI-DEEP supports Cornell’s broader modernization efforts.
- Resources and documentation to help colleagues understand project activities and upcoming changes.
- Opportunities to get involved and learn how community members can contribute to the project’s success.
- Professional development and learning opportunities that support readiness and change adoption across our community. These resources are designed to help colleagues build skills and confidence as we prepare for implementation.
⚙️ Why Your Participation Matters
CEMI-DEEP is more than a technology project—it’s an opportunity to improve how we engage with constituents and support fundraising efforts across AAD, inclusive of the Lab of Ornithology, Weill Cornell Medicine, and Cornell Tech. Your feedback helps us understand what’s working, identify areas for improvement, and ensure we’re providing the information and support our community needs.
Thank you for your continued engagement and partnership. We encourage you to take a few minutes to complete the survey and explore the updated website. Together, we’re building a stronger foundation for the future.
Best,
CEMI-DEEP Core Team
The CEMI-DEEP project team has launched its first Readiness Survey. This baseline pulse survey is designed to gauge how well-prepared and supported staff feel as the university prepares to transition to the new Kindsight ascend system.
As the first of a planned series of quarterly touchpoints, this assessment will help the project’s implementation and change management teams tailor future resources. Specifically, the survey focuses on four key areas:
- Awareness & Preparedness: Understanding upcoming tools and process changes.
- Identified Barriers: Catching potential adoption risks or hurdles early so they can be actively addressed.
- Strategy Refinement: Shaping communications, training timelines, and change management activities to better meet staff needs.
- Support Enhancement: Providing targeted intervention where specific “readiness gaps” are identified.
Participation Details
- Time Commitment: The survey is designed to be brief and should take no more than five minutes to complete.
- Confidentiality: All responses are strictly confidential. While the survey asks for unit affiliation to ensure support resources are directed to the right teams, all individual data will be aggregated into high-level executive summaries only.
- Deadline: The survey will remain open until the end of business on Tuesday, June 9, 2026.
The survey is open to members of the External Affairs team at Weill Cornell Medicine, members of the Ithaca and Lab of Ornithology Alumni Affairs and Development teams, and selected other Cornell staff involved with the project. All eligible respondents have received an email containing the survey link.
Change, like the weather, is always with us. Recognizing your personal “forecast” can help you understand how change is showing up and point you to the right support.
Across Cornell, people are experiencing change in very different ways. Some are moving through fog. Others feel the pull of high tides or the sting of constant hail. And a few have found ways to adapt, working through steady stretches of clearer skies.
What’s Your Change Forecast?
Identify where you are right now and discover Cornell resources to support you where you are and help you move forward.
Feels Like Fog
You’re not stuck, you just can’t see far ahead. Priorities feel unclear or continue to shift. People ask questions you can’t fully answer. You may be guiding others while navigating your own uncertainty.
Try HR 2079 – Coaching Through the Fog. This session builds practical coaching skills and introduces a shared language to help people move forward, even without perfect clarity. These skills extend well beyond formal leadership roles and can strengthen conversations in any setting.
Feels Like High Tides
Change keeps rolling in. Just when you regain your footing, another wave arrives. Energy rises and falls, teams respond differently to the same changes, and fatigue begins to surface over time.
Try HR 2061 – Riding the Waves of Change. Learn to recognize the signs of change fatigue and build resilience for yourself and for the people around you.
Feels Like an Endless Winter
Everything is “fine,” but it doesn’t feel fine. Workloads stretch beyond sustainable levels, and small changes feel big simply because there are so many. The season lingers longer than expected and the tipping point feels close.
Try HR 2077 – I’m Fine, You’re Fine, Everything is Fine. Spot the signs before “fine” slips into “too much,” and learn how to reset expectations before burnout takes hold.
Feels Like Hail
Nothing is breaking, but everything is getting hit. Changes of all sizes continue to land, and you find yourself constantly adjusting, dodging, and recalibrating. Any sense of stability feels brief.
Try HR 2078 – Practical Strategies for Managing Constant Change. This course offers simple, actionable ways to stay grounded and effective, even during a steady barrage of change.
Feels Like Clear Skies
You’ve found your footing and are ready to help others do the same. You’re not just navigating change, you’re helping shape it. You translate uncertainty into action and support others along the way.
Try HR 2069 – Prosci: Leading Your Team Through Change and/or HR 2071 Prosci: Employee Orientation. Build a deeper understanding of how change works and how to guide people through it with confidence.
Moving Forward, Regardless of the Forecast
Change doesn’t hit everyone the same way. Like the weather, it doesn’t stay the same forever.
The key is recognizing where you are right now—and taking the next step that fits your individual change forecast.
Explore more learning opportunities:
- Ithaca – Workday Learning
- Weill Cornell Medicine – email workshop-info@cornell.edu
As we push forward with implementation, maintaining data security and regulatory compliance is a top priority. Today, members of the CEMI-DEEP project team attended a mandatory HIPAA Privacy Onboarding Training to ensure the highest standards of data stewardship during the implementation of Kindsight ascend.
The session was led by Maria Joseph, Chief Compliance and Privacy Officer at Weill Cornell Medicine. Joseph provided attendees with a comprehensive overview of the risks and obligations associated with accessing Protected Health Information (PHI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) during complex enterprise integration projects.
“Compliance and privacy are shared responsibilities,” Joseph underscored during the session, adding that protecting donor and patient trust is paramount.
Why This Matters for the CEMI Implementation
Integrating data into new, powerful systems like Kindsight ascend requires handling a vast array of confidential information. While we build robust, permanent controls into these new systems, project team members may have transient or incidental access to sensitive data. CEMI-DEEP includes PHI regulated by HIPAA, a federal law designed to safeguard confidential healthcare records and prevent unauthorized access or sharing without patient consent.
Key Takeaways from the Training
The onboarding session equipped the team with the necessary tools and knowledge to mitigate risks effectively. Key topics covered included:
- Data Handling & Minimal Necessary Requirements: Understanding how to appropriately handle PHI/PII and limiting data access strictly to what is required for the task.
- Risk Mitigation: Identifying enterprise-wide operational data commingling risks and understanding the audits and controls in place to prevent them.
- Security Expectations & Workforce Responsibilities: Aligning on confidentiality expectations within shared HIPAA environments.
- Incident Response: Clarifying strict protocols for incident reporting and breach obligations.
As the implementation process continues, every team member is expected to approach their data stewardship responsibilities with the utmost care, sensitivity, and diligence. Thank you to the CEMI-DEEP team for making this critical training a priority and ensuring our new CRM environment remains secure and compliant.
As community members continue to navigate transitions across the university, the Focus on Change series can be used as a resource supporting reflection, learning, and conversation about these adjustments.
The previous story—”How to Prepare for Change“— shows how preparation can serve as an anchor, providing steadiness as change continues to unfold. This month’s article, Change Fatigue, explores the ways in which constant change can lead to exhaustion, and how to manage the human cost of change.
Tired of change
These days, change in our lives and work organizations is continuous, often with multiple change events occurring simultaneously. While it’s often unavoidable, this amount of change can be exhausting. The human cost of constant change is referred to as “change fatigue.”
Change fatigue is a serious organizational risk. Employees experiencing change fatigue become less engaged and less productive, which can undermine project success. This makes it crucially important that organizational leaders can recognize change fatigue in their staff, and learn how to energize their teams.
How to recognize change fatigue
Does your typically perky colleague look more tired than usual? Is your otherwise stoic staff member complaining that they’re overwhelmed? Has an employee who is normally chatty and invested grown quiet and indifferent to a project’s success? These are all signs of change fatigue.
Strategies that build team change resilience
Once you recognize change fatigue in your staff, here are some initial steps you can take to address it:
- Reassess projects. While your organization is managing through chaos, are there certain projects that can be delayed or reimagined? Find those and realign resources and timelines. This helps ease the burden of change facing your employees.
- Ask your team how they’re doing. You can do this in person, or send a survey asking how your people are experiencing the current change. Use the data you collect to help improve management of projects, and pay attention to resource allocation. Make sure team members who are experiencing change fatigue are assigned a reasonable schedule and have the tools they need to be successful.
- Share stress management techniques with the team. Check out the Organizational Change Management web page for resources on managing change. Cornell University also offers several change workshops and discuss groups, including:
- Steadying Ourselves Together in Uncertain Times: Supportive space for faculty and staff to navigate complex emotions together. 12pm-1pm via Zoom.
- Supporting your Team through Staffing Changes: Monthly discussion groups. 12pm-1pm via Zoom.
Change as the rule, but not the ruler
Author Denis Waitley said, “You must welcome change as the rule, but not your ruler.” Change in life and work is inevitable, but external chaos does not have to dominate your inner world. Rest and recalibration are vital for managing change effectively. Chaotic times don’t often hand us space to rest, which means you must be bold in seizing it for yourself and your team by being aware of change fatigue, and knowing how to build your team’s resilience.
How to talk about change fatigue
Watch this video on Change Fatigue, and discuss the questions below with your team:
- What signs of change fatigue do you recognize in yourself or others?
- Are there specific changes that have felt especially exhausting or difficult?
- What strategies from the video seemed helpful or realistic?
- How can we create space for rest, reflection, or stability in our team?
Learn more
Additional resources related to navigating change are available through:
Previous Focus on Change feature: “How to prepare for Change”
In mid-April, the university kicked off the unified effort to use Kindsight Ascend to bring several of Cornell’s legacy systems and processes into one connected donor and engagement. Through two days of high-energy conversations and planning, participants began translating ambition into action—aligning on priorities and building momentum for the transformation ahead.
Turning Vision into Action
Kindsight Ascend provides a platform where Cornell can transform fragmented threads into a cohesive whole—one that is stronger, more aligned, and built to support Cornell’s shared goals to improve the donor and engagement experience. This significant undertaking is only one aspect of the broader Cornell Experience Modernization Initiative (CEMI).
Driven by the same goals of a more connected, collaborative, and insight-driven way of working, the Donor and Engagement Experience Project is leveraging Kindsight Ascend in its move to a future where:
- Shared technologies and processes align our work across all business units.
- Data is clearer, more accessible, and easier to use for decision-making.
- Engagement strategies are informed by real-time insights.
- Best practices guide our work, with customization only where it truly matters.
- Strong partnerships—across Cornell and with its vendors—are built on transparency and trust.
The goal is simple to say, but complex to achieve: to better understand, engage, and steward the people who make Cornell’s mission possible.
A Community Effort
In the coming months, there will be expanding opportunities for staff to join the technical and functional teams already working on this initiative. Through the change network and testing, colleagues can help shape communications and training, surface questions early, and influence how the system works day to day—ensuring it truly supports the people who rely on it.
Momentum, Together
The implementation roadmap is organized into a series of major epics to progress from foundational work through core fundraising and engagement capabilities until launch in mid-2027.
The team is doing biographical data and system validation work now. In just 45 days, teams identified 558 use cases and documented 174 key decisions—bringing the biographical data and system validation phase to approximately 12% completion and marking a strong start to the implementation.
The Kindsight Ascend kickoff made one thing clear: this effort to improve the donor and engagement experience brings together the expertise, dedication, and collaborative spirit needed to succeed. This is just the beginning. The transition—and the people driving it—are already moving forward together.
Two of the primary focus areas of the Cornell Experience Modernization Initiative have entered a pivotal new stage—the build phase— where teams are configuring systems and defining how key administrative processes will operate across the university.
For the Cornell community, this marks a step toward a more consistent and streamlined experience for everyday activities like hiring, getting paid, managing budgets, and accessing financial information across all campuses.
In the May 6, 2026, CEMI Town Hall, Curt Cole, Vice President and Chief Global Information Officer, shared that Workday, the system that will be used for HR, finance, budget, and eventually student services, entered its build phase in late March. Workday is already used on the Ithaca campus for HR, and this phase represents a broader effort to redesign and expand it to meet the needs of the entire university.
Cole also noted that the donor and engagement experience system, Kindsight Ascend, began its build phase in April. The data and analytics program is approaching its own build phase, and student services continues pre-build work. Together, these efforts represent a significant transformation: redesigning and implementing systems and processes to improve the digital experience of every Cornell community member.
At the Town Hall, two university leaders shared a closer look at early progress within the Workday program. Eric Saidel, Assistant Vice Provost for Human Resources at Weill Cornell Medicine, and Cara Squicciarini, Interim University Controller, highlighted how teams are translating plans into system configuration and process improvements.
Reimagining HR: Consistency, Mobility, and Clearer Pathways
Saidel described an extensive, cross-campus effort to create a more unified and intuitive HR experience. Teams from across Cornell are examining how work happens today and identifying opportunities to better align processes.
A key priority is reducing fragmentation between campuses and systems. Today, even routine activities such as transferring to a new role or moving between locations can require navigating entirely separate processes and tools. The goal is a more seamless experience supported by shared systems, consistent workflows, and clearer organizational structures.
Work underway includes developing a common job architecture and aligning recruiting and performance processes. This and other work will provide greater transparency for both employees and managers.
Transforming Finance: Simpler Processes, Stronger Insight
Squicciarini highlighted similar progress in the finance space, where teams across campuses and functions are working to simplify complex processes and improve access to information.
Current efforts focus on reducing manual steps, improving visibility into transaction workflows, and enabling more timely, reliable reporting. These changes aim to make common tasks—such as tracking budgets, managing approvals, and accessing financial data—more straightforward and efficient.
Beyond day-to-day improvements, the future Workday environment is expected to strengthen internal controls and support better decision-making through more consistent and accessible financial data across the university.
Supporting the Work: Targeted AI Use and Community Engagement
While the primary focus remains on setting up Workday to meet Cornell’s needs, the Town Hall also touched on how AI and community perspectives are supporting the effort.
Cole described a measured, practical approach to AI, using it selectively to assist with tasks such as data cleanup, documentation, and other time-intensive implementation work.
Equally important is the involvement of the people who carry out these processes every day. Their participation in workshops, design sessions, and reviews continues to shape how the system is configured, helping ensure it reflects how work actually happens throughout Cornell.
A sincere thank you to everyone who participated in the CEMI-DEEP Phase 1 Kickoff! Your enthusiasm, engagement, and thoughtful participation helped make the event a strong start to this important next chapter of the program. We’re excited to continue building momentum together as we move deeper into planning, discovery, and implementation activities across the initiative.
📅 Major Progress Update: Epic Timelines and Bio/Demo Milestones
We’re excited to share a detailed look at the current DEEP implementation roadmap and the progress already underway within our first major workstream. Please feel free to share this update with your teams and colleagues as appropriate. This communication has been shared with stakeholders and partners across Ithaca, Cornell Tech, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and Weill Cornell Medicine.
Epic Timeline Overview
Below is the current projected timeline for each major implementation epic:
- Epic 1 – Bio Demo: 03/23/26 – 08/06/26
- Epic 2 – Campaigns: 07/13/26 – 09/11/26
- Epic 3 – Gift Processing: 08/21/26 – 01/05/27
- Epic 4 – Prospect Research/Manager: 11/11/26 – 03/25/27
- Epic 5 – Membership & Engagement: 02/12/27 – 06/10/27
- Epic 6 – Backlog: 04/49/27 – 07/01/27
- Epic 7 – Security and Permissions: 05/07/27 – 07/23/27
Bio/Demo Epic Progress
The Bio/Demo Epic has already seen significant engagement and collaboration across teams:
- 45 days of active work completed
- 558 use cases identified and reviewed
- 174 decisions documented
- 12% complete overall
These numbers represent an incredible amount of cross-functional collaboration and thoughtful analysis in a relatively short amount of time. Thank you to everyone contributing their expertise and helping move this work forward.
🔍 NEXT STEPS
As we continue progressing through the Bio/Demo Epic, teams will remain focused on discovery sessions, requirements validation, and decision documentation. Additional collaboration opportunities will continue throughout the upcoming campaign and gift processing phases.
We’re also preparing for future volunteer participation opportunities in key project activities, including:
- Change Network: This helps ensure DEEP communications and enablement are grounded in unit realities by surfacing questions and feedback early, testing messages, and supporting peers as DEEP activities increase. If you’re interested in joining the Change Network, please email Tracy Cary (tlc47@cornell.edu).
- Testing: Testing throughout the project will be vital in ensuring the new systems are working as intended. If you’re interested in helping, you can fill out the form on the CEMI site.
More information on how to participate will be shared in upcoming communications. We encourage staff members interested in supporting training, testing, and change readiness efforts to stay engaged.
⚙️ BIG PICTURE / PROGRAM CONTEXT
A quick reminder: The Cornell Experience Modernization Initiative (CEMI) – Donor and Engagement Experience Project (DEEP) is a multi-year initiative focused on modernizing engagement, fundraising, and operational systems across Cornell.
The future-state platform is expected to provide several long-term benefits, including:
- Use common technologies and processes configured to reflect Cornell’s shared goals across the business units.
- Improving how we understand, engage, and steward our alumni, grateful patients, and friends.
- Prioritizing out-of-the-box features and best-practice models, customizing only when essential to Cornell’s mission or compliance requirements.
- Focus technology, process, and data improvements to provide front-line fundraisers and engagement teams with real-time insights that convert relationships into results.
- Data governance that spans all partners to maintain clarity on data ownership, integration standards, and stewardship roles to provide data that is easy to access and analyze to support evidence-based decisions across the function.
- Partnerships built across Cornell, and with our vendors, through collaboration, open communication, trust, and transparency.
These improvements are designed to support a more connected, efficient, and collaborative experience for staff and stakeholders across the university ecosystem.
🎉 CONCLUSION
Thank you again to everyone contributing time, expertise, and energy to this effort. The strong engagement we’ve already seen during kickoff and the early implementation phases reflects the collaborative spirit driving this initiative forward.
We’ll continue providing regular updates as milestones are achieved and additional opportunities for involvement become available. Thanks for following along—we’re excited for what’s ahead!
Each quarter, Curt Cole shares updates and answers questions about CEMI in a virtual Town Hall. His roles as Cornell’s Vice President and Chief Global Information Officer and one of CEMI’s executive sponsors enable him to share significant milestones and also explain how the progress is shaped by team leaders across the university as well as the dependencies and expected impact of each step forward.
The most recent webinar was Wednesday, May 6, 2026, 9-10:00am ET. Access those webinar recording using your campus login:
- Weill Cornell Medicine New York and Qatar: CEMI Webinar 5/6/2026
- Cornell Ithaca and Tech CEMI Webinar 5/6/2026
Change triggers both emotional and physical responses, and a quick series of changes or a change that impacts many parts of work at once can leave employees feeling tired, distracted, or unsettled. These responses aren’t a weakness. They reflect a natural physiological response to learning, adjusting, and forming new patterns.
Understanding why change feels uncomfortable is one step toward making it easier to live and work through.
Why Change Takes So Much Energy
Watch the animated four-minute Skillsoft video to learn why change feels so difficult. The final minute of the video dives into potential benefits.
Despite benefits or opportunities, change can feel mentally demanding and draining over time. Pursue skills and behaviors that can ease the fatigue and strain that often accompany learning something new or adapting to unfamiliar situations.
Taking action enables individual community members to gradually build their comfort and confidence during change. Tips for making change more comfortable include:
- Break change into smaller steps and allow time for repetition. New skills and processes become easier through consistent practice, not instant mastery. Giving yourself permission to repeat tasks and learn gradually reduces pressure and builds confidence over time.
- Seek clarity early and often. Asking questions, confirming expectations, and understanding priorities helps reduce the uncertainty that makes change feel overwhelming.
- Reframe challenges as part of the learning process. Instead of seeing difficulty as a sign something is wrong, recognize it as evidence that you’re stretching and growing. This shift in perspective lowers resistance and builds resilience.
- Lean on others for support. Sharing experiences, comparing approaches, and asking for help can reduce isolation and accelerate learning.
Broad changes in an organization, like Resilient Cornell or the Cornell Experience Modernization Initiative (CEMI or “See Me”) ripple across the workforce. New tools, updated processes, evolving structures, and shifting priorities can prompt people to think and work differently—sometimes all at once.
That kind of broad organizational change will place sustained demands on individuals, teams, and the organization as a whole. These transitions often feel more manageable when they are addressed early and reinforced consistently by the people experiencing them firsthand.
Making Space for Comfort and Care
Comfort during change does not mean removing all difficulty. It means recognizing that discomfort is part of the process and creating conditions that help people navigate it with greater steadiness.
Open conversations, peer support, clear communication, and patience all contribute to an environment where adaptation feels more supported over time. These shared practices can help change feel less isolating and easier to absorb.
Start the Change Conversation
Meeting facilitators and team leaders can use questions like these to encourage reflection and dialogue:
- Which changes are impacting our day-to-day work right now, and how?
- What helps, or could help, make those changes easier to absorb?
- How can we look out for each other as we adjust?
Building on What We’ve Learned
Earlier Focus on Change articles explored why change feels hard and how preparation can provide stability during uncertainty. Making change more comfortable builds on those ideas.
By understanding how change affects people—and by supporting one another through it—some of the strain that accompanies ongoing transitions can be reduced. Comfort may not arrive all at once, but it can grow through awareness, experience, and care.
For more change journey tips, see these Cornell resources:
Previous Focus on Change feature: “How to Prepare for Change”