Most of us experience a defining moment in our careers – one that propels us toward the path we ultimately pursue. Cathy Lee Gibson experienced one such moment in 1998 when she was a member of Cornell’s adjunct faculty.

"I was facilitating an on-site workshop on interviewing. The discussion became somewhat 'heated' when the group started discussing which factors should – and should not – impact hiring decisions. One particular participant was initially very vocal – and strongly opposed to the others’ viewpoints. A few minutes into the discussion, he grew silent. I thought he might have grown uncomfortable with the confrontation, or that he might have felt it was no longer worth trying to convince others to agree with him. As soon as we took a break, he walked up to me, pulled me aside, and said, 'Do you realize you are changing lives through what you do?' At that moment, I knew that the work we were doing at Cornell – and the learning community we were fostering – was truly making a difference."

Offering programming that makes a difference for participants and for the organizations for which those participants work is a central focus of Cathy’s work as director of human resources programs. "HR professionals – at all levels of the organization – can enhance their strategic impact even while performing functions that are transactional in nature. In order to do so, however, they must continually work to serve their customers, to learn about their organizations, and to know their craft. These are the ideas upon which Cornell's HR program is predicated."

Cathy also believes that in order to grow professionally, HR professionals must continually question themselves, their organization, and their profession. "We must question the ways that we have been perceived or have been defined in our roles – for instance, as the 'personnel police.' We must also question the ways in which we carry out our functions, to see how we can perform them with greater strategic impact. And, perhaps most importantly, we must question ourselves... the ways in which we have grown professionally, the ways in which we still need to grow professionally, and how we want to evolve in our profession and in our organization."

These are the same questions that Cathy has asked herself while honing and expanding Cornell’s HR program, and as she looks forward to exploring new perspectives on these issues with the program faculty and with the participants.

For more information, please contact:
Cathy Lee Gibson
Director, Human Resources Management Program
Cornell ILR
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
212-340-2897
clg24@cornell.edu

- Cathy Lee Gibson, Director, Human Resources Program