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Newsletter of the MHRLR Program - Fall 2004Lurie CeremonyThanks to all who attended the 17th Annual Lurie Ceremony on September 27th. Deans Meadows and Prasad awarded the prizes.This year Sara Coffman was awarded the Melvin Lurie Memorial Prize. She joins the ranks of our other outstanding graduates. Marshall Gratz received the 7th Annual Melvin Lurie Labor-Management Cooperation Prize. Marshall earned his undergraduate degree in economics here at UWM and his law degree from Harvard. Over his years at the Wisconsin Employment Relations Commission, Marshall was exposed to, and practiced as a neutral in, almost every conceivable type of labor law matter. As Alan Levy of our faculty describes, "he quickly developed a fine reputation as a good listener, a decent and honest broker, a creative thinker and a really good guy." Ellen Bravo to teach a new courseIn addition to her popular course on sexual harassment, Ellen will teach Ind Rel 800 - Family Friendly Workplaces. Ellen tells us that the course will be an in-depth look at the costs and benefits of making the workplace family-friendly. Students will learn the legal and business reasons for such practices, what they look like, and how to implement and manage them. She also promises that students will learn "how to be successful and still have a life." Wow! I'm sure many of you will want to come back to campus this Spring on Tuesday's at 6:00 pm, to learn from Ellen. The program is delighted that Ellen Bravo has increased her involvement with MHRLR.Ellen's experience on the front lines of employment relations, as Director of 9 to 5, has made her summer course on sexual harassment (offered again this coming summer) increasingly popular and we anticipate the same combination of knowledge and vision to permeate Family Friendly Workplaces. Spring ForumThanks to your generous contributions to the MHRLR Alumni Outreach Fund, our 2004 Spring forum was a great success. The topic was "Labor Management Relations Today: What Works and What Doesn't?" Ron Sweet, Commissioner of the FMCS, served as moderator for the panel.Panelists included:
Panel members discussed their experiences and views of best practices and what works in maintaining an effective labor management relationship. Participants found the evening informative and helpful. We hope to continue hosting these discussions designed to bring professionals, students and faculty together around a pertinent policy issue. If you have an idea for a topic of interest, please contact Sue Donohue. Byron Yaffe Back on CampusThe Program was pleased to welcome Byron Yaffe back to UWM this fall. Bryon taught in the Labor Relations program here at UWM from 1987 to 1999 and served as the Director of the Program for the majority of those years. He participated in the annual Lurie Awards ceremony, sharing personal and professional reflections about Marshall Gratz (see the story on the ceremony). Byron now lives in Chicago, but it was great to once again enjoy his unique blend of humor, warmth and wisdom!Alumni Directory?Many current and past students have asked about creating an alumni directory for networking purposes. We are in the process of creating a password protected website for alumni to post contact information. If you are interested in participating and/or want to find out more information, contact Sue Donohue (suedono@uwm.edu).2003-2004 GraduatesCongratulations to the following new MHRLR alumni:December 2003: Kristin Beightol, Sara Coffman, Jennifer Hall (MILR), Patrick McCarthy, Jason Pruitt, Evans Ricketts, Lisa Terry, Susan Weishoff, Linda Wrubbel May 2004: Rebecca Beer, Shveta Bidani, Lee Gedemer, Katrina Gramer, Lynell Irvin, Jason Kinlen, Christopher Lange, Jill McEwen, Linda Nimpson, Shih-Yun Peng, Michelle Rossi, Alicia Schetter, Rachel Sinclair, Randy Spahos, Timothy Stanley, Barbara Swarthout (MILR), Michele Vukovic, Kei Yoshida August 2004: Josie Maisonet, Brooke Kearn Good luck and best wishes! Friends, Alumni and Student NewsAlan Levy has spent the past year representing the current administration of Milwaukee County in its efforts to control its budget and deal with the pension and benefit structure it inherited from the prior administrationPaul Nystrom has decided to retire after 36 years of service to UWM. He earned his Ph.D. in Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota. Paul has been involved in the MHRLR program since Mel Lurie was designing the original MILR degree program. As a Professor Emeritus, he plans to continue to conduct research and publish articles. Angel Larson moved to Orlando, Florida and is working as an Employee Development Manager at Hancock Information Group. She and her family survived the hurricanes and are now in the process of moving to Ft. Myers. After 30 years with DaimlerChrysler and 25 years as a union representative with UAW Local 72, the last 8 as President, John Drew has decided to take a job on the staff of UAW Region 4. This is in addition to starting the part time program at Marquette Law School this fall. Tim Stanley accepted an HR Supervisor job right outside of Nashville, TN, for Johnson Controls' Automotive Systems Group. He is mainly responsible for employee relations and safety along with other general HR tasks. It is pretty much an HR Generalist role in a 650 employee non-union, multi-site operation. Directors CornerThe year has certainly been a busy one for all of us at MHRLR. We had a successful Spring Forum on labor-management cooperation and an excellent Lurie Award Ceremony. We saw 29 students graduate! This represents an all time high and we couldn't be more pleased. We're expanding our offerings with a new class this year from Ellen Bravo on family friendly workplaces and we continue to offer our two certificates: one in international human resources and labor relations and a second in negotiation and mediation.As you may know, the graduate degree in our discipline, at UW-Madison has been closed in the most recent round of budget cutting. We are now the only graduate degree of our type in Wisconsin. We look forward to training professionals in human resources and labor relations for many years and have responded by trying to build stronger statewide connections. This fall we contacted every public and private college in the state to remind them of our degree program. Those of you throughout the state can also help us spread the word. Our alumni remain our best recruiters and we want you to keep up the good work! We encourage you each year to help us continue to be a presence by sending your contributions. We hope to get Ellen Bravo involved in an upcoming Spring Forum. Help us pay for it by sending your contribution to the MHRLR Alumni Outreach Fund, c/o Patricia Fefer, Masters in Human Resources and Labor Relations, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, P.O. Box 413, Milwaukee WI 53201. John Heywood, Director MHRLR University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee P.O. Box 413 Milwaukee, WI 53201 |
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