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Cornell Dining’s Anna Ben-Shlomo receives a President’s Award for Employee Excellence

Each summer, the Office of the President seeks nominations for Cornell University’s President’s Awards for Employee Excellence, and each fall, the awardees are announced and celebrated at an Excellence Awards Reception. Cornell Dining has the opportunity this fall to celebrate that our own Anna Ben-Shlomo is an awardee for this year’s Culture of Sustainability Award.

“Anna has been an instrumental member of our team as we continually work to make progress toward sustainable initiatives and practices,” wrote Tiffany Robertson, Project Lead for Cornell Dining, in her nomination. 

A photo of Anna Ben-Shlomo smiling
Cornell Dining's Anna Ben-Shlomo.



“Anna does a really good job at using balanced judgement to make informed decisions about our sustainability initiatives,” Tiffany wrote. “She considers how new programs impact our students, operations, and finances before implementing them.” 

“Throughout her work, Anna takes an incredible amount of initiative to push us to be a more sustainable program and educate our staff and students. As a sustainability coordinator, she always has a focus on our environment and how our operations and choices impact it. She continually reminds us to think of the future and what we want the world to look like for the next generation. She does this in many ways, ranging from seeking to replace plastic throughout our operations to educating herself and our organization about sustainable seafood and how to purchase it.” 

"The initial nomination and the award are very meaningful to me, as they recognize my work, but also the work of so many people at Cornell Dining and beyond," Anna Ben-Shlomo tells us. "I would not be able to do my job well if I didn't have the support and cooperation of everyone at Dining."

Tiffany concluded, “Anna’s dedication, leadership, and passion for sustainability make her an outstanding candidate for The Culture of Sustainability Award. Her impact extends beyond our campus, inspiring positive change for future generations.” 

“We’re proud of Anna and delighted that Cornell’s Rewards & Recognition team agreed with our nomination,” said Paul Muscente, the Director of Cornell Dining. “I’m grateful for everything that Anna has done and continues to do to keep sustainability at the forefront in our organization.” 

"This award celebrates Cornell Dining's ongoing commitment to sustainability and proves that change is possible, even if some days it feels like baby steps," Anna says.

Anna was honored as one of the awardees at the Excellence Awards Reception on November 19th. Our kudos as well to Mark Miller and Jared Snowden, two nominees from Cornell Dining in the Thoughtful Leader category; to Eric Moyer, nominated in the Game Changer category; Rae Carlisle in the Mission-Possible category; and Dustin Freeley, nominated as part of the University Events team for the One Cornell award. 

About Cornell Dining

Cornell Dining is consistently ranked in the Princeton Review's top ten for best campus food among all colleges and universities in the country! That high rating comes from customer surveys, and reflects Cornell Dining's commitment to serving high-quality foods that are healthy and creatively prepared with genuine care for a diverse community. Cornell Dining operates over 30 on-campus eateries -- which include residential dining rooms, cafés, coffeehouses, food courts, and convenience stores -- and serves more than 23,000 meals a day to members of the Cornell community. For more information, visit dining.cornell.edu.