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Why Cornell?

Considering where to build your career? Listen to what Cornell employees have to say about working here, and check out some of the reasons our workplace stands apart.

Total Rewards

It’s about so much more than your salary and the basic benefits. It’s about having resources and support for yourself and those you care for, and opportunities that enrich your life.  We take pride in offering competitive compensation and a generous total rewards package that enhances your health, wealth, and wellness, and in turn, makes Cornell an award-winning employer of choice.

Learn more about our Total Rewards


Cornell Cares

Cornell genuinely cares about our employees. We invest in our people, because we know that a great university depends on staff who feel secure and empowered. We prioritize employee wellbeing through programs like flexible work arrangements, mental health benefits, career development, and a culture of appreciation.

Learn about our workplace culture


A Place To Thrive

Cornell is an open-minded and dynamic environment with an abundance of opportunities to grow and develop, both professionally and personally. As an employee, you can take advantage of a vast spectrum of educational and cultural experiences. Learn new skills, expand your interests, be inspired - you'll find no end to the ways you can feed your passions.

See what's happening at Cornell


A Welcoming Community

When you join the Big Red community of Cornellians, it’s a life-long membership. We are a community of over 250,000 students, staff, faculty, and alumni reaching every corner of the world. At Cornell, you'll work with, among, and contribute to a rich tapestry of people across a brilliant spectrum of cultural and individual experiences.  Diversity in all its many forms is crucial to everything we do as a university. As a workplace, we aim to empower you to be your best, most authentic self.

Cornell's commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging


Meaningful Work

Every single job at Cornell supports the university's mission: to discover, preserve and disseminate knowledge, to educate the next generation of global citizens, and to promote a culture of broad inquiry throughout and beyond the Cornell community. Cornell is also committed to serving the public to enhance the lives of people in New York and around the world. In short, when you work at Cornell, you are working to make the world a better place. Our jobs support medical and veterinary breakthroughs, agricultural discoveries to better feed the world, research to understand and engineer sustainable solutions for the impacts of climate crisis, preservation of ancient knowledge, exploration of outer space and subatomic physics ... to name just a few of the astonishing efforts that happen on a daily basis here. Yeah, it's pretty cool.

Learn about research being done at Cornell


Security 

Cornell is here to stay. In our 150-year history, the Cornell community has come through wars, recessions, and pandemics. We are among the largest employers in New York state and the largest employer in Tompkins County. Our commitment to our people and our mission is for the long haul. Get a sense of Cornell's proud history and the energy here by watching this 20 minute video:

Watch "Glorious To View"


Video Transcript

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[Christine] I think what it means to be a health 
promoting campus is for us to really  

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set an environment where that promotes health and  

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wellbeing amongst all of our faculty and 
staff and students. Um... it changes the culture.

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[Avery] What does it mean to be a health 
promoting campus or university, it's a great question.

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[Julie] It means looking at the systems and the 
structures and the settings here at Cornell.

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[Michelle] The policies that we have in place to help people 
thrive. [Aaron] It's not just an add-on it's 'not maybe  

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you do this'. It means you... you feel it in small 
ways everywhere. [Christine] And we make sure that we have a  

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place where folks feel like they can take care 
of themselves. [Avery] We exist to support students. As  

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faculty and staff um... we're not able to do that 
unless we're our best selves.  

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[Cortney] I think it's as simple as a campus that supports structures that promote wellbeing for everyone there;  

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students, staff and faculty. [Avery] And what that means is 
not just physical best selves, but... but mentally as well.

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[Michelle] It's also about seeking to understand how 
people interact with those systems and those  

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policies to understand their impact. [Julie] And the 
ways that we can improve upon things so that  

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we are supporting holistic health and wellbeing 
for everyone. [Aaron] Through, through colleagues, you see  

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it through leadership, um you feel it. [Michelle] And how 
the wellbeing of one population impacts the  

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wellbeing of another. [Avery] We need to bring um... you 
know, the best parts of us to our classrooms and  

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to our engagements with the students. And so when 
I think about a Health Promoting Campus I think  

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about how do we support our faculty and staff 
so that they can do that. [Ryan] For me this commitment  

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is foundational to making sure we always stay focused on that in all of our decisions, all of  

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our policies and all the ways we think about 
supporting this campus holistically.