Cornell University is located in the heart of the beautiful Finger Lakes Region of New York State. The 745-acre campus overlooks Ithaca, which the Utne Reader dubbed the “most enlightened” city in America. It is surrounded by an unspoiled, easily accessible environment of startling natural beauty. Ithaca was voted the “best healthy city in the Northeast” in Organic Style Magazine by Rodale Press, who also gave it high rankings for culture and style. If you need a big-city fix, Manhattan is 45 minutes away by air or within four hours of traveling by car on scenic highways. Syracuse, Rochester, and Binghamton are all within 90 miles of Ithaca, and Toronto isn’t much further than New York City.
Tired of the long commutes? Almost any sort of living is available within a 15-minute drive from campus – rural, suburban, historic downtown, or many other options. Cornell faculty and staff members enrich their local communities through involvement in a full range of activities, such as participation on school and community boards, volunteering with one of the many nonprofit agencies, and social and political activism. Ideas and talents flourish with the diversity of experience and backgrounds to be found here.
Our lively and cosmopolitan community offers living, recreation, cultural, health-care, and educational options to suit a variety of lifestyles and financial circumstances.
Food enthusiasts will find themselves in paradise, with an enormous variety of top-quality restaurant experiences, from vegetarian too aged Angus beef, with multiple ethnic varieties. Cornell’s own Statler Hotel offers premier dining and lodging facilities. You can shop at the local Farmer’s market, the cooperative whole-foods market, or find virtually any kind of ethnic food at one of the outstanding grocery stores in the area.
There are six first-rate public schools in Tompkins County, one regional vocational school (BOCES), one parochial school, and three private schools, including a Montessori school. The Community School of Music and Arts provides private and group vocal, instrumental, and art instruction. Fifteen licensed child-care centers in the county, as well as 24 nursery schools and many after-school programs, provide a variety of care for infants, toddlers, and school-age children.
For those interested in culture, Ithaca is home to four theatre companies, which have featured productions to appeal to both classical and avant-garde audiences, as well as having a commitment to children’s productions, educational outreach, and theatre groups for young people. Ithaca also has a Multicultural Resource Center that features book readings and social events, including a Latino dinner and dance. If that’s not enough, there are almost daily performances of music and dance, from classical to Gamelan to jazz, from ballroom to tango to ballet. The visual arts are also well represented by several local galleries, and readers will be astonishingly well served by the area bookstores and active poetry and fiction groups. The annual Friends of the Library book sale is nationally famous.
Sport lovers – both participants and observers – will be rewarded with one of the most diverse varsity athletic programs in the country, softball, soccer, dart, and bowling leagues, active running clubs, and exceptional athletic and sport facilities that are found throughout the area.
