ILR School receives major endowment gift from General Electric
September 4 2007
Patrick Wright, CAHRS director, named first William J. Conaty Professor of Strategic Human Resources
Cornell University's ILR School and the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies (CAHRS) today announce the endowment of the William J. Conaty/General Electric (GE) Faculty Chair in Strategic Human Resources.
This professorship, made possible through a generous donation by the GE Foundation, recognizes leadership in teaching, research, and service to the human resources (HR) field. It is named for Conaty, who recently retired as GE's senior vice president, human resources and is widely regarded as one of the world's leading HR practitioners.
Patrick Wright, Ph.D., ILR professor of human resources and director of CAHRS, has been named the first William J. Conaty Professor of Strategic Human Resources. A ceremony to establish the chair, including a keynote speech by Conaty, is planned to take place in conjunction with the November 2007 CAHRS Board meeting at Cornell's Ithaca campus.
"William (Bill) Conaty has been a strong supporter of CAHRS and the Cornell ILR School for many years," Wright said. "For generations to come, the best and brightest HR students will see and hear Bill Conaty's name as we study the many worldwide contributions made by GE to the stature of the HR function. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate Bill's many accomplishments, and to acknowledge his role in the creation of the contemporary human resource function."
Conaty has a distinguished 40-year career in the HR field and remains an active board member of Cornell CAHRS. In 1993, Conaty took over GE's top HR job and immediately began work on overseeing the function’s transformation. In particular, Conaty’s willingness to share best practices – through his dedication to open benchmarking and participation on numerous public and private boards – helped build a modern HR community focused on driving business results through people.
"This generous gift will help the ILR School retain our current world-class tenured faculty in HR Studies, as well as attract new scholars in the years to come," said ILR School Dean Harry Katz, the Jack Sheinkman Professor of Collective Bargaining. "Perhaps more importantly, it will also help us attract talented undergraduate and graduate students who wish to follow in Bill Conaty's footsteps. Bill's accomplishments in strategic human resources and collective bargaining have been extraordinary. We are honored to put his name on a faculty chair in ILR."
