Our Foundations

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.

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

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.

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.

“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.

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.