The Town-Gown Awards: Tompkins illustrated

This month’s 12th annual Town-Gown Awards (The TOGOs) will once again celebrate the connections between Cornell University and our shared communities while highlighting the achievements of area residents who have or are leaving high-profile positions.

This informal, celebratory event features remarks from campus and community leaders and has become a late-autumn, beloved tradition. Most importantly, as always, we will be grateful for the opportunity to thank people from a variety of backgrounds in and around Tompkins County.

(Not surprisingly, this event is more or less unique to the greater Ithaca area, tinyurl.com/2xnzraj5, because, of course, we are unique.)

The 2022 TOGOs will be staged virtually Nov. 19 from 10 to 11 a.m., led by remarks from Cornell President Martha Pollack. (Related, we look forward to getting back to the good old days at Ithaca High School’s Kulp Auditorium.) To watch this year’s TOGOS, visit tinyurl.com/25fnmyaq.

Partnership awards this year will focus on food and nutrition at a variety of levels, including research, need, not-for-profits, students, faculty, students and a myriad of shared interests.

“Retiring” friends and neighbors to be recognized for their engagement at their workplace and other venues will include Rob Ainslie, James Brown, Cathy Covert, Barbara Eckstrom, Mary Fessenden, Karl Graham, Dwight Mengel, Andy Noel, Dave Prunty, Suzanne  Smith-Jablonski, John Turner and many others.

When I look back at The TOGOs, it is gratifying to see the many people we’ve honored for their service and the organizations that make our county a shining, progressive light in my home region. (I’m a native Canandaiguan.)

Over the years, via The TOGOs, my office has been privileged to thank local nonprofits and governments that serve an inclusive spectrum in our shared communities, from the Child Development Council to the Finger Lakes Independence Center, from the Downtown Ithaca Alliance to TST BOCES, and from the Cayuga Lake Modeling Project to Kids Discover the Trail. (More history in second-paragraph link.)

When I look forward to The TOGOs, it is with thanks for a simple event, underlined with gratitude for our neighbors, shared communities and the common good. We hope you can join us Nov. 19.

East Hill Notes are published the first and third Wednesdays in Tompkins Weekly. Gary Stewart is the associate vice president for the Office of Community Relations at Cornell University.