[Skip to Content]

Tribute to Carlyle and Ellen Jacobsen includes naming of Weiskotten Hall lobby

Tribute to Carlyle and Ellen Jacobsen includes naming of Weiskotten Hall lobby

The event will also highlight the Upstate Medical University Historical Collections, which has received a collection of personal letters and papers from the Jacobsens.

Ellen Cook Jacobsen, who died in 2013 at the age of 94, spent most of her professional life at Upstate, earning her degree from the College of Medicine in 1950, and retiring in 1990 as a professor of medicine and psychiatry.  Along the way she collected numerous “firsts,” including the first women resident in Internal Medicine and the first women faculty member of the College of Medicine.  Ellen Cook Jacobsen oversaw the Employee and Student Health Services, and after completing her residency in Psychiatry and joining that department in 1971 she established the Liaison and Consultation Service.

She married Carlyle “Jake” F. Jacobsen in 1958.

Carlyle “Jake” F Jacobsen became the first president of Upstate (1957-1965) and dean of its College of Medicine. He came to Upstate from an administrative post in health education at SUNY, through which he built network of influential people in American medicine. He oversaw a period of tremendous growth at Upstate that included construction of University Hospital and the creation of several clinical departments in the College of Medicine. Carlyle Jacobsen died in 1974.

In addition to the Jacobsens’ honor, the event will also highlight the Upstate Medical University Historical Collections, which now includes the Jacobsens’ papers.

According to Cara Howe, curator of historical collections at Upstate, the collection measures nine linear feet and includes materials about the Jacobsens’ careers, copies of papers and publications they have authored, as well as correspondence and important reports that relate to the building of University Hospital and Upstate’s early years as a state-affiliation institution, according to Cara Howe. (In 1950, the State University of New York purchased the College of Medicine from Syracuse University.)

Individuals who attend the dedication ceremony will be able to view an interactive online exhibition about the Jacobsens that will underscore their importance to the institution.  The online exhibition draws on the materials included in the Jacobsens donation of personal papers.

The dedication program will feature remarks from Upstate’s interim President, Gregory L. Eastwood, MD; Oommen Mammen, MD; assistant professor of psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh; David Murray, MD, Upstate professor and chair emeritus of orthopedic surgery and Patricia J. Numann, MD, the Lloyd S. Rogers Professor of Surgery Emeritus at Upstate; and Howe.

A portrait unveiling of the Jacobsens and a reception round out the program.

Individuals interested in attending the dedication event, should R.S.V.P to Nancy Prott at 464-4513.

Top