Burton Settles Into Role as Dean of Outreach

M. Diane Burton, the Joseph R. Rich ’80 Professor of Human Resource Studies, was appointed by Dean Alex Colvin, Ph.D. ’99, as the ILR School’s senior associate dean for research, outreach and external relations. In this role, Burton leads the strategic vision for ILR’s contract college activities, extending the research and academic work of the school’s centers, institutes and programs, while overseeing its portfolio of non-degree educational opportunities, including certificates and workshops. 

“I am excited to work with Diane in this important role for our school,” said Colvin, the Kenneth F. Kahn ’69 Dean and the Martin F. Scheinman ’75, MS ’76 Professor of Conflict Resolution at the ILR School. “Despite a turbulent environment, I believe the ILR School has enormous strengths and opportunities to build on our tradition of impacting practice and policy through our research and teaching, both extension and resident. Diane and I are working to navigate current challenges and seize the many opportunities open to us.”

Burton began her three-year term in the fall, leading ILR Outreach institutes and programs that impact thousands of people each year. 

Outreach areas include human resource management, labor relations, disability and employment, conflict resolution, worker rights, economic development, union leadership, workplace sexual harassment and employment training for individuals involved with the criminal justice system.

Under her direction, Burton hopes to see the experts in the various outreach institutes and programs collaborate and help realize a vision of “one ILR.”

“We are one of the only places in the world that convenes both labor and management,” Burton said. “The goal is advancing the world of work – making work better for everyone, having a more prosperous and just economy. How do we do that? We do that by drawing on all of the resources that we have at ILR. I want ILR to bring evidence-based ideas and research into practice. That is how ILR Outreach will have the greatest impact.” 

As the director of the Institute for Compensation Studies, Burton has led an outreach institute since 2021. She has also served on the advisory board of the Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies since 2011.

“I thought I knew what outreach was, because I lead a unit, and I met regularly with all the other leads, but it has been eye-opening to see below the surface, recognize the immense talent, and feel responsible for all of these other units,” Burton said of her first few months in the role. “It’s been really interesting.” 

Burton holds courtesy appointments in ILR’s Department of Organizational Behavior and Cornell’s Department of Sociology. She is also an active contributor to Entrepreneurship@Cornell and the universitywide undergraduate business minor. Burton served as a Provost’s Fellow for Public Engagement from 2016-2018 and Department Chair of ILR’s Department of Human Resource Studies from 2019-2022.

“What I bring to this role is something that I’ve always brought to ILR, which is connections across the university,” Burton said. “All these things I’ve done and been a part of on campus have connected me to lots of different people. 

“I think that’s what I’m hoping to take, build on, and bring to outreach. But I also think it’s important to bring outreach to campus. Many of our outreach people are not in Ithaca, and so they’re not fully aware of, or connected to, all of our campus-based resources, communities and opportunities. And I feel like that’s a way I can contribute in this role.”

As one of Cornell’s four land-grant colleges, ILR has been committed, since its founding in 1945, to serving as a catalyst for positive workplace change through research, education and teaching.