Young Alumni Achievement Award 2024: Shane Dunn '07

Bio

Shane Dunn (he/him) graduated with a B.S. in communication and minor in inequality studies from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences in 2007. He also holds a master's degree in higher education administration from Boston College. A native of Waterville, New York (population 1,500), Shane transferred to Cornell from nearby Ithaca College prior to his sophomore year.

While at Cornell, Shane was heavily involved in exploring his values and interests through direct service work. Shane participated in many initiatives and programs at the Cornell Public Service Center (PSC) and Cornell Tradition. The Pre-Orientation Service Trips (POST) program helped smooth his transition as a transfer student and eventually led to a meaningful on-campus work study job at the PSC that lasted through senior year, when he was asked to manage all student workers. Shane led multiple PSC programs that mobilized and mentored other students to engage in meaningful service, including as a team leader of POST and as the student leader of the largest day of service in Cornell’s history, Into the Streets, in 2006. Shane was honored to be invited into the Cornell Tradition program (thank you, Chuck Feeney) and received one of 10 Senior Recognition Awards for service to the campus and local communities. Shane quickly fell in love with Cornell enough to be invited to be a Cornell Ambassador through the Undergraduate Admissions Office. Shane was named one of the “25 Most Influential Undergraduates” at Cornell in 2006 and was invited to join the Sphinx Head Society. 

Upon graduation, Shane moved to Bath, England, the site of his junior year study abroad program, to work for Advanced Studies in England before moving to Boston. Due to his experiences at Cornell and the mentorship of people such as VP of Student and Campus Life Susan Murphy, Shane pursued a career in higher education, working in various roles at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, Tufts University, and the MIT Sloan School of Management. He then pivoted to working as a leader in the Boston-area charter public school communities at Excel Academy Charter Schools and Uncommon Schools. Shane returned to higher education as senior director of development and alumni relations at Brandeis International Business School and then as chief advancement officer at Rosie’s Place, the nation’s first homeless shelter for women that provides a comprehensive range of services to poor and homeless women. He now runs his own consulting business, Shane Dunn Social Sector Strategies. 

A passionate social justice advocate and active citizen, Shane is proud to serve as board president of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), one of the nation’s most effective nonprofit legal organizations that has paved the way to secure and advance the rights for LGBTQ+ Americans. Shane has served in several leadership roles as a Cornell alumni volunteer, including president of the Cornell Club of Boston and his alumni class council, as a lifetime member of the Cornell University Council, a founding member of the Cornell Alumni Advisory Board and the Einhorn Center Alumni Board, director of the Cornell Alumni Association Board of Directors, and vice president of recognition for the CALS Alumni Association. As a grateful recipient of Pell grants and other significant financial aid, Shane believes deeply in the importance of alumni as supporters to create opportunity, access, and impact for generations of students to come.

Active in several Boston civic and political organizations, he has served on the City of Boston Mayor’s Office SPARK Council for young professionals, was a Fellow with Education Pioneers, was a founding co-chair of the Board of Trustees for Ellis Early Learning Center in Boston and is actively reviving his local neighborhood association. 

Shane lives with his wife, Elizabeth, an executive at Liberty Mutual Insurance Company, and two young children, Liam (7) and Eleanor (4), in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. Elizabeth and Shane were fortunate to acknowledge the beauty and importance of Ithaca in their lives by being married in Sage Chapel in 2016.