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Working at Cornell

Parenting

photo collage with many diverse types of family and children groups

Cornell is proud to be a family-friendly workplace.

If you are dealing with issues concerning pregnancy, childcare, breastfeeding, adoption, LGBT parenting, or parenting children with special needs, there are many supportive resources available to you and your family at Cornell. Many family-friendly activities are offered on campus and financial help programs are also available. Students with children should also visit the Cornell Students with Children website for additional resources.

Resources by topic

Pregnancy / Infant Care

  • Cornell Reproductive Health Program: Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) work to ensure that task duties do not result in unsafe exposures to reproductive hazards.  EHS professionals can review your work areas to evaluate potential chemical, biological, and physical exposures and provide recommendations to ensure potential exposures do not pose a reproductive risk.  Female and male employees and students who are contemplating having children, pregnant, or nursing may schedule a reproductive health evaluation of their work and research areas.  

  • Top 10 Tips for Having a Baby at Cornell

  • Lactation Support: Information on benefits, locations of Lactation Rooms, guidelines for employees and supervisors, and other support resources.

  • Preparing for Baby Series: Workshops offered to Cornellians and their partners on topics related to prenatal and postpartum care as well as breastfeeding and making connections with other Cornell parents.

Adoption

Child Care

  • Cornell Child Care Center: offers a unique, high-quality childcare program on campus to serve Cornell’s diverse families.
  • Care.com Membership: Locate caregivers for your children, aging or disabled adults/elders, pets, your home, and more with a free Cornell-sponsored Care.com membership.
  • Child Care Tips: A useful guide for finding and working with babysitters.
  • Conference Child Care: Contact the Work/Life Consultant at worklife@cornell.edu for tips.
  • Back-Up Child Care: Cornell employees are eligible for 10 days of backup childcare per year at the Cornell Child Care Center.
  • Work/Life Consultant: Consultative assistance is available to Cornell staff, faculty, retirees, and students on topics related to dependent care, such as locating providers, nannies and babysitters, parenting children with special needs, and more.

Financial Assistance

  • Child Care Grant Program: Cornell has committed to helping faculty and staff access quality care by subsidizing its cost.
  • PayFlex Dependent Care Reimbursement Account: This benefit helps you reduce your out-of-pocket expenses by taking advantage of a federal law that gives you an immediate tax break when paying for dependent care services covered under the program.
  • Faculty Dependent Care Travel Fund: Offers tenure track and tenured faculty up to $1,000 ($1,500 for dependent children with special needs) per academic year in direct expenses for dependent-care expenses incurred while traveling to attend professional meetings, conferences, workshops, and professional development opportunities.
  • Cornell Children’s Tuition Scholarship: Provides the children of eligible Cornell employees a partial scholarship for study at Cornell or other accredited institutions.
  • Travel Assistance to NYC for Medical and Other Emergencies: The Emergency CARE Fund provides round-trip bus tickets on the Campus-to-Campus Bus to current employees.

Programs for School-aged Children

Family-Friendly Events & Activities

Special Needs

Consultation & Referrals

  • Flexible Work Consultations: Consultative assistance is available to help employees in considering flexible work options and how to develop a proposal for supervisor review.  This may be of special interest to employees who are preparing for or have children.
  • Work/Life: Consultative assistance is available to Cornell staff, faculty, retirees, and students on topics related to dependent care, such as locating providers, nannies and babysitters, parenting children with special needs, and more.

Connect at Cornell

  • Parenting Workshops: Programs offered to assist with tools and strategies related to pregnancy, parenting various ages of children, and life transitions.
  • Cornell Parenting E-News: sign up to receive parenting newsletters full of timely resources and articles for families at Cornell.
  • Family Life E-Lists  (type “join” in the subject line): Subscribe to email lists geared for Cornell parents (current & prospective), nursing mothers, LGBT families, families with children with special needs, and more.

Parental Leave