“As a senior in high school, I took an advanced social studies course with a teacher who was very active in the New York State Teachers’ Association (now NYSUT). He told me we were on the threshold of an explosion in the world of work, that public employees would soon gain the right to organize into unions, and that legislation was pending in several states which would bring a new dimension to labor relations. He predicted that more and more women were going to be needed in leadership roles in both public employment and private industry. At the time, I had been applying to other Ivies and was thinking about a major in English. I was also invited to apply to a six-year Ph.D. program at Cornell and was accepted. When I visited ILR and learned about the school, I thought I died and went to heaven! It confirmed everything my teacher had said, and I was inspired. I therefore switched my application from the Ph.D. program to the ILR School.

“I was at Cornell during a very troubled time—during the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King. I had led a somewhat sheltered life and these events forced me to confront global issues and for the first time I was questioning, too. I was troubled by the upheaval and by what I saw as lawlessness, but at the same time felt awakened that as a young adult I could make a difference. It was a tumultuous era at Cornell and it was hard to stay focused, especially around the time of the Willard Straight Hall takeover. I was saddened about the violence and about how some people used Cornell to promote extreme political agendas. I was a traditional girl, and yet I recognized that my life and future, as well as those of my peers, were being shaped by world affairs and by our government’s policies. Thus, I did become involved in the anti-war movement.

“I have never regretted my decision to major in industrial and labor relations. Even when I was at Cornell, I never thought twice about it. I knew I was preparing to do something meaningful and rewarding. You can’t get through ILR without an appreciation of how hard you have to work. I did work hard, and the discipline, dedication, and perseverance paid off. I am particularly appreciative of the ILR School for giving me the education and the skills to enter into a field that tradionaly had been off-limits to women.

“The ILR School promised and delivered! In my own very small way, I wanted to be like Jean McKelvey, arbitrator and academic, and to a certain extent I followed in her path. After a stint with a government agency, I taught at the Rutgers Institute of Management and Labor Relations between 1976 and 1989, for several years serving as Director of its masters degree program in Industrial Relations and Human Resources. I became an adjunct when my arbitration practice exploded, but still enjoy teaching at Rutgers several times a year. Without doubt, ILR prepared me with invaluable training for my roles as both a neutral and educator—training I rely on to this day.

“I hope that New York State will continue to fund the School in accordance with its statutory mandate so that ILR can continue to fulfill its mission. I would like to see the School maintain its prominence in teaching and research. While I perceive a drift in the School away from classic industrial and labor relations, I attribute it, in part, to changing times—today less than 15% of the American work force is unionized. However, labor-management relations, including dispute resolution, remains an essential, indeed foundational area of study. It should accompany ILR’s programs in human resoure management and remain a strong part of the School’s curriculum.”

—Joan Parker, ILR Connections, Spring 2003