Initiatives

Procurement Services supports Cornell's goals for promoting diversity and socially responsible purchasing.

We coordinate the university’s diverse supplier engagement strategy, which is part of the university’s institutional diversity and inclusiveness initiative, Toward New Destinations. The strategy, coordinated with senior executives, is designed to enhance awareness of and interaction with diverse suppliers and includes several programs: the targeted diverse supplier program; an effort to identify diverse companies with which Cornell can do business; and a plan to help diverse businesses become New York State certified as a minority or woman-owned business. As a result of these efforts, during fiscal year 2014, the university increased purchases from diverse businesses by $2.2 million, or 7.3%.

Procurement Services leads the Purchasing Team of the President’s Sustainable Campus Committee. We recognize the important connection between purchases and our support of a sustainable economy. Cornell uses purchasing power to strengthen sustainable economies and utilize sustainable products on campus whenever possible. These products include recycled paper in our offices, green cleaning products for our 170 academic and residential buildings, Energy Star appliances for our dormitory laundry facilities, Dell and Apple EPEAT certified computers for our offices, as well as our investment in sustainable computing and technology centers.