Without a doubt, says Beth Florin, M.S. '85, "the ILR School prepared me for a successful career in a way that no other university could have."

She also credits the "so what?" factor.

Florin recalls how her mentor, George Milkovich, an ILR professor emeritus, used this response regularly as way to get his students to look deeper at issues and their societal impact.

She and her husband, Joe Rich '80, M.S. '86, who also studied under Milkovich at the ILR School, "never forgot it and frequently quoted it to each other and to our employees" at their executive recruiting firm, Executive Alliance.

She continued, "This simple phrase helped remind us to consider the bigger picture when reviewing analytical information or when tackling a business issue. When I entered the job market, this more strategic focus helped give me more credibility and provided me with additional career opportunities."

On Sept. 22, the school will recognize Florin for establishing the Joseph R. Rich Professorship. The named chair -- a tribute to Rich, who died in 2007 -- recognizes an ILR faculty member who contributes to compensation studies in labor economics or human resource management.

Florin and Rich developed a passion for the compensation field, something that took root in Milkovich's course. "At heart, we both liked math and statistics, as well as the challenge of influencing employees to maximize productivity and performance," Florin says.

At Data General, where Florin and her husband worked as compensation analysts, "We were given great opportunities to help build the firm's human resource programs," Florin says. "Joe developed a very unique automated job evaluation system that the company rolled out worldwide. He did this only two to three years out from graduating. Our Cornell education gave us the skills to do interesting work like this at early stages of our career."

They went on to executive positions with major consulting firms before starting Executive Alliance when Florin was 30 and Rich was 34. "Cornell gave us both confidence; that whatever you put your mind to, you can do," she says.

Over the years the couple served as members of advisory councils and as guest lecturers at Cornell and collaborated with Milkovich to sponsor several compensation research projects.

Florin's hope is that the professorship will provide support for faculty to conduct applied research that practitioners can use to do their jobs more effectively.

"Compensation is a critical human resource function," she says. "Every person has a paycheck, every organization has a payroll cost ... decisions organizations make about pay programs can cost millions or even billions of dollars. There's a need for more research and data to help inform that decision making."

The first Rich Professor, Kevin Hallock, professor of economics and HR studies and director of the Institute for Compensation Studies (ICS), is an ideal choice, she says.

"Kevin epitomizes the type of professor that we hope to encourage," Florin says. "His research topics are thoughtful and forward-thinking in his field. He's an incredibly smart person, a leader within the university, a caring mentor to his students, and a friend to both Joe and me."

Asked what Rich might think about this professorship in his name, Florin comes back to the "so what" factor.

"I bet he'd say, 'So what else can we do, how else can we help ICS, ILR and Cornell? What more can we do?'

"He'd probably also look at me and say, 'It's about time.'"

Joe Zappala is assistant dean of communications and marketing at the ILR School.