ILR Celebrates 75th Anniversary

At Cornell, a brand new school opened 75 years ago today as ILR’s first students, many of them war veterans, entered Warren Hall on the Ag Quad for “Introduction to Industrial Relations.”

ILR Dean Alex Colvin, in an email to the ILR community today, said, “ILR was founded to address the great workplace conflicts of that era and promote better labor-management relations. Today, we continue to be the world’s leading school focused on work, labor and employment.” 

“This is a moment for us to reflect on ILR’s tremendous contributions to the world of work. Through our research, teaching and outreach, we address major issues for our society and economy, transforming policies, practices and the lives of workers around the world.”

Vital to Cornell’s New York state land-grant mission, ILR addresses critical world of work issues and is celebrating its legacy and the beginning of its next 75 years throughout the 2020-2021 academic year.

Proclamations honoring ILR’s 75th anniversary have been issued by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and by New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins.

Learn more about ILR’s first 75 years and how students, alums, faculty and others foresee the school shaping the next 75 years.