A brand-new school at Cornell opened on Nov. 5, 1945, as the ILR School’s first students streamed into Warren Hall on the Ag Quad for Introduction to Industrial Relations.

In an email Nov. 5 to the ILR community, Dean Alexander Colvin, Ph.D. ’99, the Kenneth F. Kahn ’69 Dean and the Martin F. Scheinman ’75, M.S. ’76, professor of Conflict Resolution, addressed the ILR community on its diamond anniversary.

“ILR was founded to address the great workplace conflicts of that era and promote better labor-management relations,” Colvin wrote. “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, the ILR School addresses critical world of work issues and is celebrating its legacy and the beginning of its next 75 years throughout the 2020-21 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.

Visit the ILR School website to learn more about the school’s first 75 years, and how students, alums, faculty and others foresee the school shaping the next 75 years.

Mary Catt is the ILR School’s communications director.