CU's Farkas receives Jones award from Human Services Coalition

Patricia Harding, left, Cornell Public Service Center executive staff assistant, helps Reneé C. Farkas, assistant director of community programs at the Public Service Center, display Farkas' Anne Tompkins Jones Award, presented Feb. 8. Charles Harrington/University Photography

Reneé C. Farkas, assistant director of community programs at the Cornell Public Service Center, was honored Feb. 8 by the Human Services Coalition of Tompkins County with the seventh annual Anne Tompkins Jones Award.

The award is presented annually to a person who has a long history of community service in the county. Farkas was presented with the award by Patricia Harding, Public Service Center executive staff assistant, who nominated her.

Among her many duties -- as a professional and volunteer -- Farkas has directed the Community Work Study program at Cornell for 12 years. The federally funded program offers financial assistance to deserving students and facilitates agencies' hiring of student staff.

She also has coordinated community roundtables and the community Public Service Fair and other workshops and events. Among her many affiliations, she serves on the Taste of the Nation Planning Committee, the Tompkins County Information and Referral Advisory Committee and the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration committee.

"This is something I really didn't expect," Farkas said of the award. "There are a lot of people in Tompkins County who do amazing public service work. I'm very grateful but also very surprised."