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Cornell ILR launches Globalization and the Workplace program
20 Apr '07
3 min read
Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) has launched a new program, Globalization and the Workplace, which will have a substantial presence both in New York City and Ithaca.
"Other universities have globalization centers, but as far as I know, no other group has specifically focused on the world of work as we're about to do," says Gary Fields, professor of labor economics and director of the new program, which will be administered by the ILR International Programs Committee.
The program is designed to address how the forces of globalization could be harnessed to improve earning opportunities for working people throughout the world and to better enable low-wage workers to work their way out of poverty.
The new program also will focus on the important workplace issues surrounding economic development in emerging economies and the repercussions for workers in developed countries. In its three-year start-up phase, it will support research by faculty and students, provide a forum for policy debates, develop and offer at least one new undergraduate course and help expand study-abroad opportunities.
Start-up funding for the program is provided by David M. Cohen, ILR '73, former assistant vice president of the Columbia University Medical Center, and his wife, Abby Joseph Cohen, A&S '73, a managing director of Goldman Sachs.
"The world will continue to get smaller as transportation and communications improve, and industrialdevelopment and the need for natural resources grow along with consumer demand," said David Cohen. "It is critical that the ILR School establish itself as the leading academic center studying the impact -- for better or for worse -- of the integration of the global economy so that we can avoid the mistakes of the past.
"Other universities have globalization centers, but as far as I know, no other group has specifically focused on the world of work as we're about to do," says Gary Fields, professor of labor economics and director of the new program, which will be administered by the ILR International Programs Committee.
The program is designed to address how the forces of globalization could be harnessed to improve earning opportunities for working people throughout the world and to better enable low-wage workers to work their way out of poverty.
The new program also will focus on the important workplace issues surrounding economic development in emerging economies and the repercussions for workers in developed countries. In its three-year start-up phase, it will support research by faculty and students, provide a forum for policy debates, develop and offer at least one new undergraduate course and help expand study-abroad opportunities.
Start-up funding for the program is provided by David M. Cohen, ILR '73, former assistant vice president of the Columbia University Medical Center, and his wife, Abby Joseph Cohen, A&S '73, a managing director of Goldman Sachs.
"The world will continue to get smaller as transportation and communications improve, and industrialdevelopment and the need for natural resources grow along with consumer demand," said David Cohen. "It is critical that the ILR School establish itself as the leading academic center studying the impact -- for better or for worse -- of the integration of the global economy so that we can avoid the mistakes of the past.
Cornell University
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