Corning Inc. of Corning, N.Y., announced that Robert F. Cummings Jr., senior managing director at GSC Group Inc., was appointed yesterday to the company’s board of directors, bringing the board membership to 16. Effective immediately, Cummings will be an independent director, serving on the board’s finance and pension committees. Cummings will hold office until Corning’s annual shareholders meeting on April 26, 2007, the company said, when it is expected that he will be nominated to serve a three-year term. For the 28 years prior to his joining GSC Group in 2002, he worked in the corporate finance department of Goldman, Sachs & Co. Cummings became a company partner in 1986, retired in 1998 and continued on as an advisor. He is a director of ATSI Holdings, GSC Capital Corp., Precision Partners Inc., RR Donnelley and Sons Co., and Viasystems Group Inc. and a member of the board of trustees of Union College.