Jacob Gould Schurman (May 2, 1854 – August 12, 1942) was a Canadian-American educator and diplomat, who served as President of Cornell University and United States Ambassador to Germany.

[2] In 1874, while a student at Acadia College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, he won the Canadian Gilchrist scholarship to study at the University of London,[3] from which he received a BA degree in 1877 and an MA in 1878.

Subsequent laws required states to match federal funds for agricultural research stations and cooperative extension.

In his inaugural address as Cornell's third president on November 11, 1892, Schurman announced his intention to enlist the financial support of the state.

The annual state appropriations were later extended to agriculture, home economics, and following World War II, industrial and labor relations.

[18] During World War I he insisted that American rights be respected; after the sinking of the Lusitania he pointed out that the action threatened to erase the distinction between combatants and non-combatants.

In 1917 he was appointed a member of the New York State Food Commission, but resigned in June 1918 to go to France as lecturer to American soldiers.

[19] In 2021, the Cornell Filipino Association sought to discredit Schurman due to the work of the Philippine Commission and demanded that his name be removed from the building.