Celebrating ILR Student Excellence at the McPherson Honors and Awards Dinner
At ILR, spring flowers herald the annual McPherson Honors and Awards Dinner, where students, faculty and staff are recognized.
“I am tremendously honored to have been selected,” said Emelin Torres ’27, inaugural winner of the Dr. Harold Oaklander Prize in 2026. “I was truly inspired by the opportunity to connect with Christine [Isabelle] Oaklander, the daughter of Dr. Harold Oaklander, and learn more about his relentless support for unemployed workers. I look forward to supporting low-wage workers and unemployed communities throughout my career.”
Amidst white tablecloths and sparkling glassware at the Statler Hotel in late April, attendees of the 33rd annual dinner were welcomed by Alex Colvin, Ph.D. ’99, the Kenneth F. Kahn ’69 Dean, Martin F. Scheinman ’75, MS ’76, Professor of Conflict Resolution.
Faculty and staff awards for excellence in teaching and advising were given out by George Boyer, the Martin P. Catherwood Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations, and ILR director of teaching, while student awards were presented by Kevin F. Harris, ILR’s Frank B. Miller Director of Student Services.
Decades of Excellence
The event’s history begins with James “Jim” McPherson, ILR assistant dean and director of student services from 1983 to 2002. “For generations of students, he embodied our deep commitment to their education, wellness and future success,” Colvin said.
McPherson’s vision for a recognition event has been continued by Harris, whose office manages the student awards and coordinates the event.
“It’s a celebratory event. We highlight faculty, staff and student excellence in the school with something everybody looks forward to in the spring,” said Harris, who was honored at the 2026 dinner as a recipient of the student-nominated Martha L. Smith Award for Staff Advising and Mentoring.
“Jim was a champion of the undergraduate program, and he wanted to create a culture of excellence for teaching,” Boyer said. “As for Jim’s vision, I think we have gone a long way to achieving it. The awards dinner is a great event, one of the highlights of the academic year.”
After McPherson died unexpectedly in 2002, the event was named in his honor, and the James E. McPherson Scholarship was established in his memory. This year’s scholarship awardee was Jacob Janco ’26.
Memorial Prizes Carry Forward Legacies
The Dr. Harold Oaklander Prize and the James E. McPherson Scholarship are part of a group of nearly two dozen memorial prizes that honor an ILR-connected person with notable personal qualities and accomplishments.
Harold Oaklander
Oaklander ’52 was an ILRie who, at age 100, was still working to prevent the harms of unemployment. His career included working as Professor of Management at Pace University’s Lubin Graduate School of Business, serving as associate dean and founding its early executive MBA program; establishing the Alliance for the Prevention of Unemployment; funding The Cornell Law School’s Harold Oaklander Public Interest Fund to advance justice and public policy against persistent unemployment; and inspired and helped to support the ILR course “The Fight Against Unemployment: Advocacy and Policy,” which is taught by Ian Greer, research professor.
The prize goes to the undergraduate who wrote the best paper about unemployment.
Oaklander’s daughter, Christine Isabelle Oaklander CALS ’81, attended the 2026 dinner.
“I spoke with Emelin, who had won the award, and it was very moving to me because of what the award meant to her,” Oaklander said. “She is planning to go to law school, looking to give back because she grew up with immigrant parents. I was very impressed by this, and I said to her, ‘My father would have been thrilled. He would have loved your paper. ’”
Daniel Alpern
The ILR School’s first prize for academic achievement, begun in 1947, is the Daniel Alpern Award.
Alpern died while serving in the U.S. Navy, shortly after requesting a transfer from the Cornell College of Engineering to ILR, where his brother, Jerome “Jerry” Alpern ’49, MBA ’50, was a first-year student. The award was created by the Alpern family to honor Danny’s legacy. Winners are selected based on scholarship, leadership and service to the school.
“Uncle Danny was an exceptionally talented, intellectually curious and truly kind person,” said Susan Alpern-Fisch A&S ’81, Jerry’s youngest daughter. “We hope those qualities inspire the students who have received the prize, and that they in turn will ‘pass it forward’ in their commitment to ILR and Cornell.”
The award was established the year following the creation of the Daniel Alpern Memorial Scholarship, ILR’s first scholarship. “Our grandparents, Harry and Sophie Alpern, created the scholarship for incoming freshmen to help a student just beginning their college experience,” explained Alpern-Fisch, “and the prize for seniors is to acknowledge their academic achievement and leadership as they start the next chapter of their lives.”
“The prize has been an extraordinary legacy in that many recipients have gone on to be leaders in their fields of academia, business, labor and law, and have been very loyal, active and generous alum,” she said. “As of June 2026, nearly 80 years later, over 150 Alpern prizes have been given.”
“For my father, the prize was a wonderful way of keeping Danny’s memory alive, because the winners were all going on to do amazing things, that, sadly, Danny had not had the chance to do. But it truly has been a way of turning a tragedy into something positive,” shared Alpern-Fisch.
Alpern-Fisch also pointed out that there has been a “notable crossover” between winners of an undergraduate Alpern award and those who later receive a Judge William B. Groat or Jerome Alpern Award. The Jerome Alpern Award was established by the ILR School in 1997 and named in honor of its namesake
This year’s award winners were Owen Spargo ’26 and Chelsey Wang ’26.
Steven Spencer
Steven Spencer ’75 and Michael Hacker ’75 were the recipients of the Daniel Alpern Award in 1975. A few years later, they were both employed at the Morgan Lewis law firm, along with Mike Ossip ’76.
The trio originally met at ILR and continued their friendship as colleagues at the firm.
Spencer, a pioneer in employment benefits law, became a nationally recognized expert. For decades, he partnered with another Morgan Lewis colleague, Bob Lichtenstein, to teach employee benefits law as an adjunct at both the University of Pennsylvania Law School and Villanova Law School.
After retiring in 2018, Spencer began teaching an employee benefits law course at Cornell, with Lichtenstein leading a class each semester. The course was offered by ILR and the Cornell Law School.
“Cornell was very important to Steve,” said Lynne Spencer, who shared 37 years of marriage with Spencer before his death in 2020. “He really loved his time there as a student, and when he went back to teach, he absolutely loved it.”
Lynne shared that her husband realized many of his colleagues were retiring and wanted to convey his expertise to the next generation.
“He had office hours at Cornell, and he felt like he was part of the campus again. He loved talking with students about their plans, and he would spend a lot of time – he was that sort of person.”
After Spencer’s death, Hacker, Ossip and Lichtenstein created the Steven Spencer Memorial Award. Lynne Spencer has also contributed to the award.
“The award goes to a student who exemplifies Steve’s personal traits – his integrity, selflessness, willingness to help colleagues and sense of humor,” shared Ossip. “Every year we get a thank you letter from the winner, which is very nice.”
Casey Platkin ’26 was this year’s recipient.
Virginia Freeman
Established in 2015 in memory of long-time ILR registrar, the Virginia Freeman Memorial Prize is made possible each year by the generosity of a donor. It recognizes an ILR senior who has shown qualities that Freeman embodied: selflessness, responsibility and integrity, as well as contributing to the ILR School and the greater community.
The 2026 prize winner was Abigail “Abby” Rothleder ’26.
“I feel humbled and grateful to have been chosen for an award that honors an ILR student’s character,” Rothman said. “I hope to bring the qualities of selflessness, responsibility and integrity to all my future endeavors.”
While at ILR, Rothleder served as a Peer Mentor Lead for the ILR Peer Mentor Program, which assists new ILRies with their transition to Cornell. Rothleder has accepted a job as an analyst in the Special Victims Division of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office and plans to attend law school in the future.
Community Ties
Jim McPherson’s daughter, Andrea Kiely, has attended the dinner for many years. “The thing I remember with ILR growing up is that it is a small community within a big university, and that sense of community really comes through at the dinner,” Kiely shared.
Kiely’s husband, Richard Kiely, who received a Ph.D. from Cornell in adult education, and McPherson’s wife, Carolyn McPherson, have also been regulars at the dinner.
“My dad’s been gone for 25 years now, but people still remember him, and the fact that they remember him with the dinner is lovely,” Kiely said.
