Departmental Profile

Building on the Past, The Challenges of Advancement

The Challenges

Good jobs, healthy working conditions, and positive relationships between employees and employers are vitally important in this time of an expanding global economy. The Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations is unique because it systematically concentrates all teaching and research efforts on issues surrounding employment and work. Presently, the department faces the challenges of preparing students for responsible jobs in today’s global economy and significantly increasing the visibility of faculty research. Accomplishing these tasks will enable the department to become a national leader in the field of employment and work.

Our Past Progress

The Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations concentrated heavily on labor education in the early 1950s. It had a small undergraduate program and no graduate program. Over the years, it has been one of the few, and one of the very best, departments to offer undergraduate degrees in the field of industrial relations and human resources.

We have substantially broadened and improved the undergraduate program in the last ten years as the number of majors rose to over 200. Increasingly, more of our undergraduate majors participate in the University Scholars Program, internship opportunities, and education abroad. As in the past, many graduating seniors choose to enter the fields of human resources and labor-management relations, while others continue their education in graduate school or law school. According to a recent departmental survey of alumni, 50 percent of our graduates earned post-graduate degrees, including M.A.s, M.B.A.s, Ph.D.s, and J.D.s., a fact which suggests the undergraduate program provides students with a solid foundation to follow diverse and exciting careers.

In fall 1995, a master of science degree program in industrial relations and human resources was launched in our department. This new graduate program presents the department with its chief concerns and opportunities for the future. Our early experiences indicate that the program has great promise. The first graduate had been admitted to three doctoral programs, and had received two lucrative job offers prior to graduation. The fall 1996 recruitment class had the highest grade-point average and the highest average verbal Graduate Record Examination score of any Big Ten program, the New York School of Industrial Relations at Cornell, or the program at Rutgers University. These initial experiences have set a very high standard for the future of our graduate program.

Faculty research in recent years has expanded into a variety of leading-edge issues related to employment and work. Current research addresses such perplexing topics as employment and business ethics, job stability, temporary workers and their work settings, governmental and industrial responses to occupational diseases, union commitment, as well as the impacts of new technology and new work arrangements. These topics represent some of the more critical concerns facing families, their communities, and society generally. We have made enormous progress in establishing world-class educational experiences for our students and enhancing faculty research profiles. We now are poised to elevate our sights and standards to new levels by building on this progress.

Facing the Challenges

The Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations looks toward the future with eagerness fostered by its long and successful history. Having entered the realm of graduate education, the department must have the requisite tools--attractive and competitive financial support for students and a high caliber faculty--to recruit the very best students to the campus.

We compete for the best students with Cornell University, Michigan State University, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Illinois. Cornell typically funds all new students, and the other programs usually provide financial support for 30 to 50 percent of their new master’s level students; given fiscal constraints here, we cannot match these support levels.

An endowed graduate fellowship program, covering tuition and a living stipend, would be one avenue by which to attract the best students. Fellowship support enables students to concentrate fully on learning during crucial periods in their graduate education. Of equal importance in attracting superior graduate students, the department must have top quality faculty members, who in turn can build a highly successful graduate program. When compared to programs at Cornell, MIT, Rutgers, and other Big Ten programs (Illinois, Michigan State, Minnesota, Ohio State, and Wisconsin), our situation is urgent. Endowed professorships and professorial chairs are common in these highly respected programs; our department has no endowments for either. Chairs and professorships are among the most important resources the department can have in recruiting and maintaining a distinguished faculty. These positions provide recognition and honor for faculty members who hold them, as well as providing for special teaching or research expenses.

A Commitment to Progress

As we look into the twenty-first century, one observation is indisputable: employment and work will remain critical components of our lives. In an age when concerns over science and technology seem to dominate, we tend to forget that labor accounts for over two-thirds of the value added and productivity growth in the U.S. economy. Still, the contexts in which employers and employees operate are complex and evolving, resulting in ongoing changes in the social contract between them. Clearly, no one can predict the workplace that will evolve in the new millennium.

Whether attempting to better understand the employment relationship and working conditions, or their influence on the well being of employees, their families, communities, and the economy, significantly increasing the quality of the department’s research profile can reap big dividends for the Commonwealth and the nation. In preparing future scholars, employment relations/human resource professionals, or others who will help shape the conditions of employment and work, the challenge is to enable the very best master’s degree students to prosper. To translate both of these challenges into reality will require generous financial support from alumni and friends.

To learn how you can help us meet the challenge of advancement, contact:

Paul Clark, Head
Department of Labor Studies & Employment Relations
133 Willard Building
The Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA 16802-1602
814-865-5425
E-mail: pfc2@psu.edu

You also may contact one of the following members
of the Affiliates of LER Development Committee:
Douglas Allen ’73 Chair (202-463-2200)
Irwin Aronson ’73 (717-238-8702)
Dick Rogers '70 (203-268-8445)
Aleta Weakland ’80 (724-934-5586)