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Shaping the next 75 years of work

Through teaching, research and outreach, we are crafting the future of work because we can draw from thousands of years of collective experience. We only just got started 75 years ago. We invite you to join in shaping the future of work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ILR graduates pose behind the school's banner that is carried during commencement
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ILR Timeline

Our Stories

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Dennis Woodside ’91

Dennis Woodside ’91 took his ILR degree to Stanford Law School, to a clerkship on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, to the boardrooms of some of the most recognizable companies in the country.
Dennis Woodside ’91

Jenniffer Flores ’22

ILR's influence is helping Jenniffer Flores lead students toward greater financial literacy.
Jenniffer Flores

Dustin Liu ’19

Dustin Liu ’19 is the son of Taiwanese immigrants who fostered in him the belief that individuals can inspire social change – a belief that was solidified during his time at ILR.
Dustin Liu ’19

Jeanell English ’10

The career path of Jeanell English ’10 emerged from a traditional human resources role into sport production, where she led the resource operations function that delivered Discovery’s first broadcast of an Olympic Games to Europe.
Jeanell English ’10

Sonia Guior ’15

Sonia Guior ‘15 is a self-described New Yorker, transportation nerd and aspiring Adirondack 46er. She also relies heavily on her ILR degree in her roles as employee, manager, union member and regulator of a rapidly evolving industry.
Sonia Guior ’15

Professor Francine Blau ’66

The ILR School’s Frances Perkins Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations and a professor of economics, Blau has published widely in journals, books and conference reports, and wrote the standard textbook on gender issues in the labor market.
Professor Fran Blau

Our Foundations

Maurice Neufeld

Founding faculty member Maurice Neufeld, the son of immigrants, arrived at Cornell in 1945. A history scholar, he had worked as a union organizer, a government leader and a U.S. Army officer. Along with Jean McKelvey, he designed and taught ILR’s first classes.
Maurice Neufeld

Jean McKelvey

Jean McKelvey was a leading national figure in dispute resolution who was sometimes mistaken as the secretary at the labor hearings she led. In 1945, she began what has become a hallmark of ILR education: connecting the classroom and the real world for students.
Jean McKelvey

Milton Konvitz

An ILR faculty member who helped shape the lives of thousands of students across Cornell, Milton Konvitz encouraged his students to think deeply.
Milton Konvitz

Vernon “Pete” Jensen

“Pete” Jensen could only find work as a substitute teacher for Salt Lake City public schools after graduating with an undergraduate degree in American history from Brigham Young University in 1932, during the lowest points of the Great Depression.
Vernon Jensen

Irving McNeil Ives

Irving M. Ives, a fixture of the New York State Legislature and the U.S. Senate for nearly 30 years, spent his career championing groundbreaking legislation, the effects of which can still be felt today.
Irving Ives

ILR Deans

A number of people have served as dean or acting dean of the ILR School since Irving M. Ives began his tenure in 1945 as the school’s leader.
Aerial view of Cornell University ILR School's Ithaca, NY campus