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Newsletter of the MHRLR Program - Fall 2000New Faces in the MHRLR OfficeMany of you know of the changes in the MHRLR office. For those of you who do not, here's the scoop...John Heywood is the Director and Susan Donohue is the new Assistant Director. John has been associated with MHRLR and MILR for 15 years and has taught both labor economics and the methodology course over the years. Sue comes from outside and has experience in a consulting firm and an advertising firm as well as in academia. She will be teaching in the program and also helping students much as did Margo Squires. Thanks go to Pat Fefer for making the transition as smooth as possible. Lurie CeremonyThanks to all who attended the annual Lurie Ceremony on September 25, 2000. Our own Chancellor, Nancy Zimpher, gave the opening remarks while Deans Goodman and Kroncke awarded the prizes.Susan Kulinski received the 13th Annual Melvin Lurie Memorial Prize, joining the ranks of our twelve other outstanding graduates. Ron Sweet a federal mediator with the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, was awarded the 3rd Annual Lurie Labor-Management Cooperation Prize. In his remarks, Ron spoke of how the role of the Federal Mediator has changed during his 25 year career. The role has evolved from that of a referee between labor and management in an acrimonious relationship to fostering a more conciliatory relationship where both sides work together. Congratulations to both our winners! New International InitiativesMore and more employers are demanding internationally literate human resource and labor relations graduates to order to compete in this increasingly globalized economy. In response, MHRLR has developed a number of new initiatives designed to address this growing need.International Fellows Program The international Fellows program will bring leading practitioners and scholars of human resources and labor relations into the classrooms and seminar rooms of UWM. These visiting fellows of MHRLR will be united by their expertise on international aspects of the employment relationship. Such fellows could be those associated with multinational firms, those from domestic firms which have dealt with substantial foreign competition, those from overseas who practice in an alternative employment relations system or those who study such alternative systems. In Spring 2001, Professor Michelle Brown will be the first International Fellow. As many of you may recall, Michelle was the Assistant Director of the program from 1996-1998. She will share her expertise on the Australian Labor Relations system. Look for future notices on when Michelle will be on campus. International Certificate in HRLR The MHRLR program is designing a new Graduate Certificate in International Human Resources and Labor Relations. The certificate will provide students the practical and theoretical knowledge of international human resource and labor relations issues. We hope to have the new certificate program in place for the 2001-2002 school year. New Course for Spring 2001 Economics 755 - Comparative Labor Markets and Employment Relations provides MHRLR students an in depth comparison of U.S. labor market institutions with those from other major industrial countries. The link is drawn between those institutions and the resulting human resource practices and the nature of industrial relations. The shared pressures of an increasingly globalized economy are traced out in recent institutional changes in each country and patterns for the future are suggested. The course is taught jointly by Professors K. Bender and J. Heywood. Spring Forum: "The ADA in the New Century - A Practitioners View"Changes in legislation alter the job of a human resources/labor relations specialist in unexpected ways. One such piece of legislation is the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).To help students and alumni better address the complex issues surrounding this legislation, we will hold a Spring Forum entitled "The ADA in the New Century - A Practitioners View." The Forum will include a panel of current human resource/labor relations specialists from a variety of different employment settings who will discuss how this piece of legislation has impacted their jobs. Professors Levy and Ragins will be the moderators. More information coming in February. If you are interested in becoming a panel member, contact Sue Donohue (suedono@uwm.edu). MHRLR Lunchtime Research ForumOnce a month MHRLR now hosts a lunchtime research forum for those interested in Human Resource and/or Labor issues. The forums are designed to share research as well as meet others interested in Human Resource and/or Labor issues. All are welcome.Look for announcements of future Lunchtime Forums on the listserv. If you are not on the listserv, please contact Sue Donohue (suedono@uwm.edu). Friends, Alumni and Student NewsThanks for all of your responses to our request for updates. We very much enjoy hearing your news so keep them coming! Here's what we have learned so far...Kristin Gaardner was recently promoted at Miller Brewing Company to manage their University Relations programs, Mentoring programs and Miller's survey response system. Robert Halfman accepted a Generalist (developmental) position with Fort James Corp. in Green Bay. Al Levy recently became a grandfather for the fifth time. He also recently attended the American Bar Association Millennium meetings in both New York and London. Julie Markowski welcomed her second child (a girl) in June and is currently on leave from her position with the Milwaukee Public Library. Linda Berger welcomed a baby boy in May. She has started working from home doing reference checks for MRA The Management Association. Karl Nennig is the Occupational Medical Clinic Administrator with Wisconsin Electric and is currently going through an acquisition with Wisconsin Gas. Gretta Marcelle is a Compensation & Benefits Analyst with United Wisconsin Services, Inc. (Blue Cross & Blue Shield). Lora Daley is currently working for LTV Steel and is interested in learning if anyone has an active mentoring program at their workplace. Directors CornerWe hope to see each of you at the Spring Forum on the ADA! The MHRLR program is committed to strengthening the ties between itself and its many alumni. The Forum, which we intend to be an annual event with changing topics, is one way to keep up links with us and with each other. The MHRLR Alumni Outreach Fund sponsors the Forum and we would love to have contributions to the Fund to help offset costs. They're tax deductible so make checks payable to the UWM Foundation and send them to the MHRLR office. Thanks so much!Few academic programs are blessed with so successful and involved a group of graduates as MHRLR! You are one of our greatest resources. Keep in touch by sending in your news for the newsletter. Based on your experience, let us know how we can best educate human resource and labor relations professionals for the coming century. John Heywood, Director MHRLR University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee P.O. Box 413 Milwaukee, WI 53201 |
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