Ithaca: Education and Research

Elementary and Secondary Schools

Ithaca's public school system is large and highly diverse, with students of 80 nationalities and an enrollment that is 26 percent students of color. The system covers more than 155 square miles and serves more than 5400 students from rural, suburban, and urban communities. Approximately 88 percent of its graduates continue on to higher education. Ithaca High School students' mean combined SAT score is 200 points higher than national and statewide averages.

The following is a summary of data regarding the Ithaca public school system as of the 2003–2004 school year.

Total enrollment: 5,459

Number of facilities

elementary schools: 8

junior high/middle schools: 2

senior high schools: 1

other: 1

Student/teacher ratio: 22:1

Teacher salaries

average: $44,037

Funding per pupil: $7,697 (2003)

Public Schools Information: Ithaca City School District, 400 Lake St., Ithaca, NY 14850; telephone (607)274-2101

Colleges and Universities

Cornell University is a world-renowned teaching and research university with a beautiful campus overlooking the city of Ithaca and Cayuga Lake. The campus includes seven undergraduate and four graduate and professional schools. Cornell has more than 13,000 undergraduates and over 5,800 graduate students on its Ithaca campus. Several national centers, including one of four supercomputing centers, make their home at Cornell. The school has developed a reputation for its strong astronomy, biotechnology, mathematics, and nuclear studies fields among others. It ranks near the top for research funding from the National Science Foundation, government, and industry.

Founded as the Ithaca Conservatory of Music in 1892, Ithaca College has five schools, including business, health sciences and human performance, humanities and sciences, music, and the Park School of Communications.

Ithaca College has over 6,000 undergraduate students and nearly 250 graduate students from 47 states and 70 different countries, who may choose from more than 100 programs. Ithaca College is ranked high among schools of its size and type.

Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3) is part of the system of the State University of New York. Founded in 1968, it offers associate degrees and certificates in 26 program areas. The school's Business Training and Development Center offers courses in such areas as computer skills, management techniques, and licensing requirements. The school has a campus in Ithaca itself and a main campus in nearby Dryden.

Libraries and Research Centers

The Tompkins County Public Library has nearly 230,000 volumes and 265 periodical subscriptions. A new Tompkins County Public Library opened in late 2000. The 67,000-square-foot, $6.4 million structure has two main reading rooms, a large community meeting room, and a separate programming room for children. In July 2005, the Tompkins County Public Library installed a new computer catalog system which includes access in Spanish. Cornell University Library has nearly 6.5 million volumes and several departmental libraries. Other major libraries in the city include those of Ithaca College, the Finger Lakes Library System, the Cayuga Medical Center, the Paleontology Research Institution Library, and the Dewitt Historical Society of Tompkins County Library & Archive.

Cornell University is among the major research universities in the country, with approximately $300 million in annual research support. The university is home to New York State's Center for Advanced Technology in Biotechnology. The National Science Foundation has designated Cornell as the location of what may be the world's leading "Super Computer" facility, which IBM Corporation helps to co-sponsor. Cornell University also is the site of more than 75 other research centers on topics ranging from African studies, legal studies, mathematics, and social and economic research to manufacturing, agriculture, and honey bees.

Ithaca is also home to Jicamara Radio Observatory, New York Space Grant Consortium, Northeast Dairy Foods Research Center, and the USDA Agricultural Research Service Plant, Soil and Nutrition Laboratory.

Public Library Information: Tompkins County Public Library, 101 E. Green St., Ithaca, NY 14850; telephone (607)272-4557; fax (607)272-8111