ILR Names Assistant Dean for HR
Bringing with him experience in higher education, employment law, labor relations and unions, Lawrence Mancuso begins as ILR School’s assistant dean for human resources on Feb. 21.
“Larry Mancuso’s proven record of implementing impactful human resources services aligns with ILR’s focus on employee well-being. He has a deep commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion priorities and has worked with unions, on both sides of the table. I am thrilled to welcome Larry to the ILR community,” said Alexander Colvin, Ph.D., ’99, ILR’s Kenneth F. Kahn ’69 Dean and Martin F. Scheinman ’75, M.S. ’76, Professor of Conflict Resolution.
Mancuso is executive director for human resources and organizational development at Genesee Community College in Batavia, and served as director of human resources at the State University of New York at Geneseo from 2019 to 2021.
He was director of human resources at the Board of Cooperative Education Services in Monroe County from 2016 to 2019 and served as the shared director of human resources for both the Wheatland-Chili and Honeoye Falls school districts from 2012 to 2016.
In his current position, Mancuso has led a number of strategic initiatives including the restructuring and reinvigoration of Genesee Community College’s Open-Door Program, which engages members of historically underrepresented groups in higher education and provides career opportunities.
He has also diversified marketing platforms at the college in order to recruit, hire and retain employees from underrepresented groups, helped build initiatives that promote a culture of excellence, and designed and implemented a professional development series for new hires to increase employee performance, retention and satisfaction.
The grandson of an Italian immigrant who could not read nor write, Mancuso said, “I am fortunate to be a first-generation college graduate and to have earned my master's degree from Binghamton University and my law degree from the University of Buffalo.”
Mancuso began his career as a schoolteacher and was elected as a teachers’ union representative. “My interest in labor issues and collective bargaining inspired me to attend law school, where I completed a concentration of study in labor and employment law,” he said. “ILR seems like the perfect connection for my passions of labor and employment law, human resources and the opportunity to make a contribution to the mission of the school.”