New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University

20th century In 1944, a coalition of leaders in American business, industry, labor, government, and education formed to establish the school. They believed that a new type of school was needed that focused on issues involving the American workplace. More specifically, the State Legislature established the school in 1945 based on the recommendations of the New York State Joint Legislative Committee on Industrial and Labor Conditions. This committee was headed by Irving M. Ives and was originally formed in 1938. Ives, along with others in the committee, determined that a fundamental dysfunction in the relationship between management and labor was that each group brought different technical information and skills to the negotiating table and that these differences were hindering the formation of mutually favorable outcomes. The committee’s response to this observation was to recommend that the state of New York provide "a common training program" for representatives of labor and management. The committee stressed that the importance of such a training program is "not merely attendance at the same institution or in the same school, but rather mutual and cooperative analysis of the problems common to both groups." Indeed, a quote from the committee’s 1943 report adds, "The Committee believes [however] that a state-sponsored school in this state should be based upon a broader educational philosophy. One of the most important ways of improving industrial and labor relations is to bring together, in a common training program, representatives of both labor and industry." It was the committee’s recommendation to provide common training to leaders from all perspectives of the management-labor debate. It was hoped that this common training would stabilize the negotiating table by producing leaders on all sides who have common technical information and competencies. In 1942 the committee recommended that ILR be established at Cornell (the state’s land grant institution). Two years later, formal legislative action was taken and Governor Dewey approved establishing the school. On July 1, 1945, ILR became a going educational enterprise, charged with the mission "to improve industrial and labor conditions in the State through the provision of instruction, the conduct of research, and the dissemination of information in all aspects of industrial, labor, and public relations, affecting employers and employees." Ives was the first dean of the school. However, soon after gaining this title he became a United States Senator for New York and left for Washington. Beginning in the summer of 1947, Martin P. Catherwood became the dean. The school was also championed by then-President of Cornell University, Edmund Ezra Day. The state of New York provided the school with generous funding. However, due to time constraints, the school soon moved into quonset huts on the Ithaca campus and later into buildings vacated by the New York State College of Veterinary Medicine. 21st century In 2012, ILR opened the International HRM Academy in collaboration with King's College London. ==Campus==

Between its founding in 1945 and 1960, the school was housed in temporary quarters in quonset huts on the engineering quadrangle.) is listed on the register of historic structures. The main campus occupies a quad near the center of Cornell, comprising an academic building, a research building, an extension building, a conference center, and a library. Ives Hall, named after ILR founding dean Irving Ives, is the academic building and is divided into a classroom/student wing and a faculty wing. The student wing houses separate lounges for undergraduate and graduate students. Also on the quad is the Martin P. Catherwood Library, which is one of only two official depository libraries of the International Labour Organization (the other being the Library of Congress). The ILR Conference Center, with its distinctive belfry atop, hosts special training sessions and recruiting events and offices for the United Auto Workers. The research building houses the Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution as well as offices for the ILR Review. The extension building, renamed Dolgen Hall in 2008, houses the Yang Tan Institute. All of these buildings are owned by New York State on land that Cornell conveyed to the state. In 1998, New York State replaced the portion of Ives Hall fronting along Tower Road with a new building. Recently, the State also renovated the faculty wing of Ives Hall at a cost of $14 million, and in 2004, New York State completed extensive renovations of three other campus buildings. The 1911 building which houses the ILR Conference Center was rededicated as Patricia G. and Rubén Jose King-Shaw, Jr. Hall in 2012. ILR also has campuses in Albany, Buffalo, and Rochester, New York. ==Organization and degree programs==

The school is divided into six departments: Global Labor and Work, Human Resource Studies, Labor Economics, Organizational Behavior, and Statistics and Data Science. Undergraduate programs While most such schools offer only masters and PhD degrees in human resources or labor relations, Cornell is one of a few that offer a four-year undergraduate program focused on work and employment, the B.S. in Industrial and Labor Relations (BSILR). All students are required to complete a 120 credit hour curriculum with the following general requirements: First-year students are required to complete two writing seminars, Introduction to Organizational Behavior, Introduction to U.S. Labor History, as well as Introductory Microeconomics and Introductory Macroeconomics. Sophomore year students have the following course requirements: Introductory Statistics, Labor and Employment Law, Human Resource Management, Labor Relations, Economics of Wages and Unemployment, and an advanced writing course. Junior and Senior level students are required to take 24 credits from within the school's six departments. An additional 16 credits may be taken outside the school. Additionally, there is a physical education requirement of two classes. In 2010, of the 911 undergraduates, 406 (45%) were New York State residents at the time they matriculated. New York residents pay a reduced in-state tuition. The school also sponsors a chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). The school's undergraduate contingent has claimed the national title at SHRM's HR Games twice—in 2002 and 2004. In 2011, a Cornell Daily Sun article rated ILR the "Sexiest Major" at Cornell: "The dreamy look in their eyes and the business-casual attire on their backs... They are the students who would have been in AEM except for the fact that they have souls. These students’ passion for the underdog and stunning good looks make ILR, hands down, the number one sexiest major at Cornell." Undergraduates have a number of internship opportunities, including semester-long for-credit internships. The school also sponsors non-credit internships over the January break or during the summer. Graduate programs Graduate-level degrees offered through the Graduate School include the Master of Industrial and Labor Relations (MILR), the dual MILR/Master of Business Administration (MBA) (joint with the Johnson School), the Master of Professional Studies (MPS), the Executive Master of Human Resource Management, the Master of Science (MS) in Labor Research & Policy, and the M.S./Ph.D. Graduate students may also complete a semester abroad or a one-year-additional dual-degree Master in Management from ESCP Europe at any one of its campuses: Paris, Torino, Berlin, Madrid, or London. The school's contingent has claimed the title at the National MBA Human Capital Case Competition five times (the most of any school)—2007, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015. Certificate programs Through eCornell the school offers over 90 professional development certificate programs through online provision. ==Activities and publications==

Since 1946, the school has participated in Cornell University's cooperative extension program, which reaches every county in the state. The school's extension program provides training and consulting services to both organized labor and management on contract negotiations, handling grievances, and employee relations. The school's international program hosts scholars from other nations to conduct research in Ithaca as visiting fellows. Starting in 1952, the school conducted the Liberian Codification Project under the direction of Milton R. Konvitz. Since 1947, the school's faculty publishes a quarterly academic journal named the Industrial and Labor Relations Review. The school's Sports Business Society has also published the magazine Sports, Inc. since 2008. ==Notable people==

Notable faculty Current and former faculty include: • Francine D. Blau (also ILR alumna), first female recipient of the IZA Prize • George Boyer, an economic historian and scholar of the English Poor Laws • Martin P. Catherwood, New York State Industrial Commissioner and labor arbitrator • Ronald G. Ehrenberg, labor economist • Erica Groshen, 14th Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics • Harry C. Katz, labor relations and collective bargaining scholar • Milton R. Konvitz, constitutional scholar • Jean McKelvey, economist and labor arbitrator • Maurice F. Neufeld, founding faculty member and union organizer • U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, the first female U.S. Cabinet member, the longest-serving (12 years) Secretary of Labor, witness to the Triangle Factory fire, and champion of both the Fair Labor Standards Act and the Social Security Act • Paul Ortiz, labor historian • Andy Stern, former President of SEIU, holds an appointment as the Alice B. Grant Labor Leader in Residence at the school • Charles Tharp, former SVP of HR at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Saks Notable alumni Early Show reporter Dave Price '87, broadcasting from the Fall 2008 ILR Orientation '83, the 11th United States Deputy Secretary of Labor '83, the 27th Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers Academia • Former Academy of Management President David A. Whetten (Ph.D. '74) • Ohio State University provost Joseph A. Alutto (Ph.D.'68) • Michael Goldsmith, former law professor at the BYU J. Reuben Clark Law School • New York City Schools Chancellor Harold O. Levy ('74) General management • Priceline.com founder Jay S. Walker ('78) • Parenting Magazine founder Robin Wolaner ('75) • NFL Players Association President JC Tretter ('13) • NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman ('74) • MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred ('80) • San Diego Padres General Manager A. J. Preller ('99) Labor organizations • President of UNITE HERE Bruce S. Raynor ('72) • American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten ('80) • National Football League Players Association President (2020-2024), Executive Director (2026-present) J. C. Tretter ('13) • New York City Labor Mediator Theodore W. Kheel (BA 1935, JD 1937) from 1956-1982 appointed by Mayor Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Government • U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor Seth Harris ('83) • New York State Senator Michael F. Nozzolio ('73) • New York State Senator David Carlucci • Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Harry T. Edwards ('62) • Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Alan B. Krueger ('82) Other • Rabbi Bruce M. Cohen ('82) • Former Cornell football head coach Jim Knowles ('87) • Publicist Matthew Hiltzik ('94) • Sara Horowitz ('84), founder of the Freelancers Union • CBS's The Early Show reporter Dave Price ('87) • Martin F. Scheinman (BS '75, MS '76), leading American arbitrator and mediator • Harold Tanner ('52), former chairman of the Cornell University Board of Trustees ==References==