Bright Horizons Opens Full-Service Child Care Center at Cornell University

High-Quality Early Education Program Reflects Cornell's Commitment to
Recruiting, Retaining, and Supporting Talented and Diverse Faculty, Staff, and
Students

ITHACA, N.Y., Oct. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- With the recent opening of the
Cornell University Child Care Center, managed by Bright Horizons Family
Solutions, faculty, staff, and students have a new oncampus high-quality child
care option while at work or school. Goals of the center include creating a
positive, supportive environment for children while improving work/life
integration for the Cornell community.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081023/NETH026 )
The Cornell University Child Care Center offers full-service child care
and education for children ages six weeks to 5 years old and is open to all
segments of the university community. The program can also accommodate
children on a back-up care basis when a family's traditional child care
provider is unavailable.
"We are very proud to offer our staff and faculty a high-quality child
care solution on campus to expand the options for our community," said Mary
Opperman, vice president for human resources, Cornell University. "The child
care center reflects our unwavering commitment to Cornell's ongoing emphasis
on work/family priorities."
Studies Reveal Impact of Child Care on Campus
Recently, the Bright Horizons Consulting Practice surveyed more than
97,000 faculty, staff and students at public and private universities across
the country to measure the impact of child care in an academic setting. The
responses underscore the need for addressing the child care challenges in a
university environment and reveal that when faculty, staff, and students are
faced with child care challenges, their ability to concentrate, meet
expectations, take on more responsibilities, and complete projects on time is
compromised. According to the study, 60 percent of faculty have cancelled
office hours or student/faculty appointments due to child care issues and 35
percent of faculty and graduate students have been unable to apply for a grant
or participate in an externally funded study, or have interrupted or suspended
their work on a grant or research initiative.
"We are excited about our great partnership with Cornell University. The
new Cornell University Child Care Center managed by Bright Horizons will
create a supportive work/life environment on campus and deliver a strategic
advantage that will enhance Cornell's efforts to hire and retain the best and
brightest faculty and staff and thereby recruit top students," said Bright
Horizons CEO David Lissy.
A Place Where Children Can Thrive
Informed by the research of early childhood experts, the curriculum at the
Cornell University Child Care Center is child- and play-centered, tailored to
the needs of individual children at their own developmental level and includes
attention to social connection, physical movement, music, art, and language.
The center invites family involvement, fosters the building of community, and
promotes respect for each family.
The child care center was designed specifically to meet the environmental
and educational needs of young children. The 16,240 square foot stand-alone
facility is on North Campus in a natural setting filled with trees and
greenery. There are dedicated playgrounds for each age group, built-in
underground sprinklers and a dry creek bed for water play, a butterfly garden,
and large outdoor instruments for the children to explore. Classrooms were
built with large windows to maximize indoor natural light.
Bright Horizons is operating the Cornell University Child Care Center as
it does each of its programs, according to the highest standards of excellence
as defined by the National Association for the Education of Young Children
(NAEYC). Other higher-education clients of Bright Horizons include Duke,
Georgia Tech, Johns Hopkins, and MIT.
About Bright Horizons Family Solutions
Bright Horizons Family Solutions (www.brighthorizons.com) is the world's
leading provider of employer-sponsored child care, back-up care, early
education and work/life solutions. The company operates more than 600 child
care and early education centers across the U.S., in Europe, and Canada.
Bright Horizons was recently named one of FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best
Companies to Work For in America."
SOURCE Bright Horizons Family Solutions

Leah Lesser of Bright Horizons Family Solutions, +1-617-673-8020,
llesser@brighthorizons.com