New state-of-the-art ILR facility receives its dedication Friday

The School of Industrial and Labor Relations will dedicate its new facility, seen here from Garden Avenue, in ceremonies Friday. Robert Barker/University Photography

By Darryl Geddes

Though it's been open since January, the new School of Industrial and Labor Relations facility officially will be dedicated Friday, April 17, during ceremonies featuring remarks from Cornell President Hunter Rawlings, ILR Dean Edward Lawler, AFL-CIO New York State President Edward Cleary and U.S. Department of Labor Policy Director Seth Harris.

The ceremony will begin at 1:30 p.m. under a tent adjacent to the new building and will kick off a weekend of celebratory activities.

"As we proceed toward the millennium, this new facility will serve as the hub for the research and study of the workplace," said Edward Lawler, dean of the School of Industrial and Labor Relations. "It will serve as an ideal incubator for the study of labor and management."

A major feature of the new facility are two amphitheaters, featuring the latest in distance learning technology. The amphitheaters offer multiple remote-controlled and automated cameras; multiple push-to-signal, push-to-talk microphones; power and ethernet connectivity at every seat; electronic whiteboards; and response technology.

"These highly interactive virtual classrooms set a new standard for distance learning in that they combine invisible technology with the highest level of interactivity," said Jonathon Levy, associate director of Cornell's Office of Distance Learning. "The design of these rooms required that there be no distractions from the learning process with intrusive technology, suspended monitors and cameras and that the rooms must not look like television studies, yet they must function better than most video classrooms."

In recognition of the ILR facility's highly automated classrooms, Cornell was selected as a finalist in the "Most Significant Advance in Two-way Motion Videoconferencing" category at the TeleCon XVII annual meeting, co-sponsored by the United States Distance Learning Association last fall.

The new facility also includes a 38,000-square-foot expansion of the Martin P. Catherwood Library, more than doubling its former size. The library contains the most extensive collection -- more than 190,000 volumes -- of industrial and labor relations materials in North America. It is second only to the combined collections of the Library of Congress and the U.S. Department of Labor. Included in the expansion is the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation, named for noted mediator and arbitrator Theodore W. Kheel. The center is the designated repository for papers of key individuals and organizations related to labor-management relations.

The five-story limestone facility also includes a student lounge, eight classrooms, seminar rooms, computer labs and a 350-seat auditorium.

Construction of the building began in August 1994 and was completed in January of this year. It is located between Uris Hall and the School of Industrial and Labor Relations Conference Center and features a main entrance on Tower Road.

Architects for the project were Herbert Beckhard Frank Richlan & Associates of New York City. The general contractor for the project was Turner Construction of Philadelphia.

Funding for the project was provided primarily by the State University Construction Fund, with support from the university, alumni and other institutions representing both labor and management, most notably PepsiCo and the AFL-CIO.

The School of Industrial and Labor Relations was founded by an act of the New York State Legislature in 1944 and officially opened its doors in 1946.

Workshops and panel discussions are planned as part of the dedication ceremonies today through Saturday, April 18, for the School of Industrial and Labor Relations' new building. Below are some of the public events, each of which will take place, unless otherwise noted, in the PepsiCo Auditorium of the new building.

• Today, 3 p.m.: "Labor and Employment Law at the New Millennium," a dialogue session with Paul Salvatore and Saul G. Kramer, partners with Proskauer Rose LLP; Marcia Greenbaum, an aribtrator; Risa Lieberwitz, Cornell professor of collective bargaining; Elizabeth Moore, partner with Nixon Hargrave Devans & Doyle LLP; and Robert Savelson, partner with Cohen, Weiss & Simon.

• Friday, 8:30 a.m.: "The New American Labor Movement," with Bruce Raynor, secretary-treasurer of UNITE and Cornell trustee; Al Davidoff, national AFL-CIO director for New York state; Nick Salvatore, professor of labor history; and Randi Weingarten, president of the United Federation of Teachers.

• Friday, 10:30 a.m.: "Exploring the Future of Collective Bargaining in Professional Sports" with National Hockey League Commissioner Gary Bettman; National Basketball Association Executive Vice President Jeffrey Mishkin; Buck Briggs, assistant general counsel for the National Football League Management Council; Dennis Curran, executive vice president and general counsel for the National Football League Management Council; and William L. Daly III, senior vice president of legal affairs for the National Hockey League.

• Friday, 1:30 p.m.: Official building dedication ceremony, featuring presentations from Cornell President Hunter Rawlings, School of Industrial and Labor Relations Dean Edward Lawler, AFL-CIO New York State President Edward Cleary and U.S. Department of Labor Policy Director Seth Harris. The ceremony will take place in a tent adjacent to the new building.

• Saturday, 10:30 a.m.: "The Impact of New York Regents Examinations," with Carl T. Hayden, chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents; John Bishop, chairman and associate professor of human resources studies; and Paul Cole, secretary-treasurer of the New York State AFL-CIO.

• Saturday, 2 p.m.: "Creating Agility Through People in Large and Small Organizations," with Lee Dyer, professor of human resource studies; Deborah Kates Smith, senior vice president for human resources, Merck & Co.; and Theresa Welbourne, the J. Thomas Clark Professor of Entrepreneurship and Personal Enterprise.

A complete program of events for the building dedication weekend can be found at http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/dedication/.