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ILR Global Affairs Club Launches Website
and New E-initiatives

In only its first semester of operation, the ILR Global Affairs Club (IGAC) has established itself as a powerhouse in harnessing student interests outside the classroom. One of the ways IGAC does so is by maintaining constant communication with its members through various means. Its recently developed website serves as a premier resource to its club members, students and faculty throughout Cornell.

IGAC is an extensive student organization with a multitude of projects running simultaneously. The website plays a vital role in connecting the various IGAC endeavors under one umbrella as it relays the structure, projects and participating members to keep potential and current members informed about club activities. In order to assist its members in securing intersession international travel experiences, the website maintains a database of External Opportunities, which lists useful resources such as volunteer programs, internships, language immersion, study abroad and grant opportunities.

On a more local level, IGAC's website strives to connect member to on-campus international experiences by means of its interactive calendar, which is updated with IGAC and internationally related Cornell events. Furthermore, the website also maintains a photo gallery of IGAC events and members' abroad experiences to serve as a visual learning forum.

IGAC's E-Journal

As a work in progress, members have started to create the IGAC e-journal, titled "Writing for Change," which will be launched in February. Interested members have begun writing short, opinionated articles on ILR-related interests that will be compiled into this virtual magazine. The website will archive all past e-journals for readership interest.

IGAC's Crest: The Yarn Fusil

The organizations leaders have founded IGAC as an organization that strives to make the international world of work accessible to all. Throughout the summer, the IGAC Executive Board worked hard to come up with a logo that encompasses this mission, which is now prominently featured on the IGAC homepage.

 

The design of the crest was "outsourced" to Julie Steinbrink, a very talented and helpful friend of the clubs' founder.  IGAC's crest is a depiction of a yarn fusil with a single thread unwinding around the world. The yarn fusil and its variations are Medieval symbols for negotiation, labor, commerce and travel.  The thread unwinds around the world as a representation of how these workplace issues permeate the entire world. IGAC's founders believes it to be a befitting symbol that encapsulates all of what IGAC hopes to be – an organization that brings out international business and worker issues through innovative means.

WorldMotion Partnership

In pursuit of bringing out international workplace issues through innovative means, IGAC has partnered with WorldMotion, a registered non-profit organization founded in 2006 by Cornellians, including IGAC president, Lakhpreet Gill '08.  WorldMotion has been awarded a humanitarian award for its efforts, comprehensive web design and evident interest that it sparks in global topics amongst young people. Through this partnership, IGAC members will be able to engage in grassroots learning about international issues as people around the world share their international interests in literature, music, art, and news.

WORKING Project Partnership

Most recently, IGAC members have started consulting for the newly launched website WORKING, hosted by Homeland Productions. This web-project funded in part by the International Labour Organization (ILO) aims to connect ordinary workers across both continents and professions by acting as a conduit for comparison. This interactive tool allows workers and professionals to enter in their own surveys chronicling their working life, which can be seen as a statistic in relation to others who have entered in their surveys. Since this project was only launched this past August the principle architect of the project, a local Ithacan named Jon Miller, has sought IGAC's assistance in "populating" this web-tool with worker surveys from around the world. IGAC’s members have been utilizing their international networks in order to market this interactive tool to the global employee.  They have even created the Facebook group, "WORKING Project," which interested people can share with their friends in order to help market the website.

As IGAC grows in membership and reach, it will continue to update its web-based tools to allow Cornellians to explore the international world of work.

IGAC warmly thanks Vishnu Ravi, Cornell '08, for his dedication in designing the IGAC website.

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