From the Director

Richard Block
Interim Director and Professor
School of Labor and Industrial Relations

Welcome to the School of Labor and Industrial Relations (SLIR) at Michigan State University! We are pleased by your interest in our programs and hope you will enjoy our Web site. SLIR, established in 1956, is one of the top graduate programs in human resources and labor relations. Our purpose is to improve the employer-employee relationship to maximize organizational success and employee satisfaction. We do so through the efforts of world class faculty and staff who are committed to our vision:

To be nationally and internationally recognized as the center of expertise
about the employment relationship.

Our core values are:

• We recognize, value and nurture the importance of the employment relationship to employing organizations, employees, and labor unions.
• We demand excellence in all we do, demonstrating the land grant philosophy of integrated teaching, research, service and outreach..
• We expect that we all will contribute to our mission and vision, although often in different ways.
• We demand open, honest and respectful communications and interpersonal relations among ourselves and with our external stakeholders.
• We will model what we teach in the way our School is led and administered.
• We demand of ourselves the highest level of integrity in all we do.

Our accomplishments in teaching, research and outreach have enabled us to attract an excellent and diverse student body. Our Masters of Labor Relations and Human Resources graduates are recruited by Fortune 100 firms, government, and unions to become the leaders in the profession in the decades ahead. Our Ph.D. graduates become leading scholars at top universities. And we offer highly rated professional development programs for leaders in human resources, labor relations, and workers’ compensation.

We invite you to browse our site and learn in more detail about the exciting activities, faculty, programs and initiatives that exist within the School of Labor and Industrial Relations. Our faculty and staff are available to assist you with access and understanding of our educational programs and other activities. To contact specific individuals, please refer to our faculty and staff directory, or you may contact me directly. We look forward to hearing from you and hope you find this site informative and beneficial and that you will share our sincere belief and driving passion that the School of Labor and Industrial Relations at Michigan State University is a center of academic excellence, nationally and internationally, preparing tomorrow’s scholars and human resources and labor relations leaders.

Rich Block