A professorship in labor relations endowed this year through a generous gift from David M. Cohen ’73 and Abby Joseph Cohen '73 will be held by Ariel Avgar, Ph.D. ’08.

ILR’s senior associate dean for outreach and sponsored research, Avgar focuses his research on better understanding the consequences of conflict for employees and employers, and on exploring the role that employment relations factors play in the health care industry. Widely published, Avgar was featured in a Cornell Chronicle story about the Cornell Tech-Weill Cornell Medicine-ILR team researching how to elevate home care workers.

David Cohen, a chief negotiator and chief labor counsel in national and New York City roles in multiple industries, has served the school for decades as a Dean’s Advisory Council member, guest lecturer, faculty research supporter and student mentor, among other roles, said the endowment is an additional way to repay his debt of gratitude to ILR.

“The school needs great faculty to teach great students,” Cohen said in April, when he announced the professorship at the school's annual alumni celebration, where he received the Judge William B. Groat Award. “This new professorship will allow the school to recruit and retain top talent and to expand the size of the faculty centered around the areas in our field which have been so important in my career."

Said Alexander Colvin, Ph.D. ’99, ILR’s Kenneth F. Kahn ’69 Dean and the Martin F. Scheinman ’75, M.S. ’76, Professor of Conflict Resolution: “Over his long and distinguished career, David Cohen has exemplified the labor relations professionalism that we seek to prepare our students for at ILR. The David M. Cohen Professorship will reinforce and strengthen our continued ability to be the leading institution in the nation and the world in the labor relations field. Ariel Avgar is the ideal inaugural holder of this professorship.”

Read the full story on the ILR School website.