Cornell recognizes the importance of family in supporting a healthy student life experience. Over the years, many units have addressed different issues faced by student families. In 2013, a campus-wide advisory committee was created to bring together staff, faculty, and students from different units. The goal of this committee was to approach student families holistically, determine priorities, and develop new partnerships to enhance programming efforts. This group provides direction and makes University recommendations to what additional needs families have. In addition, this committee helps with communication so that key offices are informed of resources available to partners and students with children to help with dissemination of information.
In late 2013, our Graduate and Professional Student Assembly created the Graduate and Professional Community Initiative (GPCI) 2013. Family Services is one of eight thematic areas that serves as a needs assessment for the strategic plan that supports our students with families. More information can be found on the GPCI Initiative – Spring 2018 page. The Students with Families Advisory Committee agreed to be stewards to this section of the document and be responsible for working with the GPSA to better support Cornell students with families. The Chair of the Students with Families Advisory Committee now reports yearly to the GPCI Executive Committee with our accomplishments, challenges, and requests for resources.
As a group of 15 members, we know that our work is ongoing, and we continue to meet monthly to discuss ways that we can better serve this important community. If you are interested in joining our efforts or learning more about what we do, please feel free to contact the Students with Families Advisory Committee Chair Janna Lamey (janna.lamey@cornell.edu).