Alumni Stories

Having Benn born in New Zealand, Leigh Amaro was looking for an undergraduate program that would exposed to diverse cultures and give her the opportunity to learn about international companies. She chose ILR.

Alum who chose management over medicine sees positive outcomes

As a child growing up in New York City, labor lawyer Cathy Creighton ’87 saw firsthand the value of unions.

New York State Sen. Michael F. Nozzolio ’73 says, “The ILR School provided me with an excellent foundation to establish my life’s work.”

Barbara Molloy had her sights set on a master’s degree from Cornell since her days as an undergraduate psychology major, with a business minor, at Ithaca College.

The western cascade of the Lick Brook gorge inspired an ILR graduate to prepare for a job that didn’t exist. Andrew Zepp ’85, CALS ’89 is now executive director of the Finger Lakes Land Trust.

McDonald used the broad-based understanding of economics, statistics and business he gained at ILR to build his career.

Roomkin gift supports ILR response to changing workplace

Forty years after its founding by Leona Barsky, ILR Women's Caucus continues to connect students with alumnae

Elyse ’80 and Andy Nathanson ’79 met as classmates in the mid-seventies, married years later, and had three children, two of whom also attended ILR — Brian ’12 and Kevin ’17. Their daughter, Alison, graduated from Cornell’s Dyson School in 2014.

Lindsay Boyajian, BS ILR ’13 and MILR ’14, was drawn to the ILR student body’s spirit of being involved as leaders on campus and found her place in that dynamic at Cornell’s eLab.

When Lloyd Robinson ’87 reflects on his time at ILR, he remembers the small classes, talented students, and professors who care deeply about their students.

JC Tretter ‘13 chose the ILR School because he wanted the flexibility to study what interested him most after completing core courses. Tretter always wanted to be a sports agent, but he has put this dream aside for a bigger dream – playing for the Green Bay Packers.

Ozlem Denizmen was 17 when she moved to the United States from Turkey, where she learned English while working as an au pair. Her sights set on an Ivy League education and with the objective to spend her life working for justice and equality, Denizmen applied to the ILR School.

Queens, N.Y. native, Seth Siegel, describes himself as an accidental ILRie. As a child, Siegel pursued a general interest in international affairs and later applied to what he thought was the International and Labor Relations School. Later discovering what the “I” actually stood for, he decided to apply anyway.

Dayna Martin fell in love as an ILR undergraduate with what she describes as the dichotomy of economics, where theories are built on the assumption that people act rationally, when in fact people do not act rationally.

Bluemercury spas and luxury cosmetics spread to Macy's stores