Ann Muhvich, MILR ’21

Right out of undergraduate, Ann Muhvich’s career was off to a fantastic start.

Her psychology degree from Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota, led her to an analyst position in 2016 with a Fortune 100 company. The more time Muhvich spent there, where most of her work was focused on IT, the more interested she became in taking on HR-related assignments.

Three years in, she said, “I realized that if I wanted to do HR, I had to go back to school and it was clear to me that the ILR School’s MILR program is the top graduate program for HR and labor issues.”

After meeting faculty, future classmates and staff at Discover MILR on the Cornell campus, she packed up and moved across the country.

She has no regrets, only plaudits for an experience that is sending her next to Chicago, where she will be a part of a leading consulting firm’s human capital strategy practice.

“The program can really change the trajectory of one’s career,” she said.

In-class discussion with other MILRs is central to the MILR experience, she said. “The quality of conversation in the classes is unmatched.”

So is the investment of ILR professors in helping students tap into the school’s deep network of industry relationships, Muhvich said, noting that it’s not unusual for faculty members to pick up the phone and call a chief human relations officer to connect them with a student.

MILR courses on HR strategy, unionization, labor and employment law, private equity and other leading issues of today’s workplace gave her access to top workplace scholars such as Rosemary Batt and Chris Collins, and to 50 MILR peers who will be resources for the rest of her career.

“I will use my MILR degree to make a direct impact in the world of work. Because I’ve learned about a wide variety of subjects in HR, labor relations, employment law and various business topics, I am bound to use material from my classes for years to come. These topics are increasingly relevant as we adjust to a rapidly changing world of work, and I am inspired to use the knowledge I gained at the ILR School to do things like inform workers about their rights, lead organizational changes and help workplaces flourish.”

The MILR experience also introduced Muhvich to a region filled with lakes and gorges that she describes as “magical.”

“I was excited about my move to Ithaca, but I truly didn’t expect to love it. It’s a beautiful place to live and study.”