Just a week into his tenure as an economics faculty member at Iowa State, Peter Orazem was asked to join the Industrial Relations Center. Almost 20 years later, the professor of economics is in his first year as the director of the interdisciplinary program that was established in the late '60s to bring together faculty and students interested and involved in research and education in industrial relations. Orazem is one of 17 faculty members from three different colleges including the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, who are actively involved in the IR Center. "The program focuses on the study of people in the workplace, particularly in the economics and psychology of human resources," Orazem said. "We have faculty from not only those disciplines but management, finance, political science, sociology and education.

"We're an army of volunteers and we're always looking for other faculty members who want to be a part of the program."

Faculty members holding the rank of assistant professor or above are eligible for appointment as a faculty research associate in the IR Center. Appointment to the Center recognizes the scholarly competence of faculty associates in conducting meaningful research activity in industrial relations.

The IR Center provides an interdisciplinary, graduate-level educational experience that prepares graduates for careers in human resources management and labor relations in the private or public sector. The Center offers a masters of science degree in industrial relations. There are currently 17 students in the program seeking one of two courses of study. One masters program is 24 hours of coursework with a six-hour thesis required. That track is particyularly useful for students who want continue on for doctoral study in the human resource management field. A majority of the program's students are enrolled in a second track which involves writing a four credit creative component: a less formal written research project. "Most of the students already have jobs and others have a job by the time they have been in the program for three semesters," Orazem said. "Typically they are either planning on switching their career goals or are in a human resources position and want to get additional training to enhance their current work programs."

When the program was developed in the late '60s, most of the program's graduates went to work in the public sector, particularly in the federal government. Economic times have changed since then.

"A federal job placement is a rarity now," Orazem said. "Organized labor has become less important. More of our students work for private firms. As firms have expanded and labor regulations have become more stringent, it's becoming much more important for human resource professionals to have knowledge of some of the issues that the federal government would have handled in the past. In some ways, the role of the labor unions has been supplanted by federal regulations."

Despite that, the program's core curriculum hasn't changed. But the way the courses are delivered has. Orazem says several Iowa firms are encouraging their human resources employees to obtain coursework in industrial relations. As a result, more evening courses are offered to accommodate these individuals.

Another change may be on the horizon. The Governor's 2010 Strategic Planning Council would like to see the IR Center take on a new role. In its final recommendation, the Council said, "Expand and strengthen the IR Center at Iowa State to provide credible and authoritative research, education, outreach and technical support to policy makers and practitioners in the areas of workforce development and employment relations."

Some of those ways could include:

• Develop and implement indicators measuring Iowa's workforce and its development;
• Build a capacity of existing employer and work organizations to work together;
• Encourage and develop workplace policies and benefits, and incentives for child care programs;
• Track wages, incomes and fringe benefits of the Iowa workplace;

"We're a fairly remarkable program," Orazem said. "We exist simply because there are faculty across campus who are interested in these issues."

Professor Peter F. Orazem

Director, Industrial Relations Center

Iowa State University

GO TO:

IR Home  |  IR Center  |  IR Faculty  |  IR Courses   |  Graduate Business Home Page  |  Economics Home Page