Advance, Cornell ILR School's publication for alumni and friends.
Issue link: https://advance.epubxp.com/i/524292
Have you always wanted to work in academia? I think I've wanted to be an economics professor since I was in middle school. Even at that time, I was interested in labor markets and why people earned what they earned. I was focused on this early and stuck with it. My father is an academic physicist — he's worked at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for 45 years. That certainly had an enormous impact on shaping my career interests. He loves his job and I love mine. Do you remember when you frst heard about the ILR School? When I was in college, I attended a lecture given by ILR Professor Ron Ehrenberg at Amherst College on compensation tournaments in professional sports. During the lecture, I asked a lot of questions. Immediately after, Ron pulled me aside, pointed at me and said, "Want to get a Ph.D. at the ILR School?" He handed me his card. I ended up earning my Ph.D. in economics at Princeton and starting my academic career at the University of Illinois, but I found my way back to Cornell. What brought you to the ILR School? In the fall of 2004, my wife and I were having a conversation about where we wanted to be in 15 years. I was happy in my nine years at Illinois, but I also thought the ILR School would be great. The day after that conversation — it was 9:07 a.m., I remember it clearly — I got a call from Professor Larry Kahn, a member of the ILR faculty search committee looking for a compensation specialist. He wanted to know if I was interested. 2 In February, Kevin Hallock began his tenure as the ILR School's Kenneth F. Kahn '69 Dean. Hallock joined ILR as a faculty member in 2005, most recently serving as the Donald C. Opatrny '74 Chair of the Department of Economics and Joseph R. Rich '80 Professor, and director of ILR's Institute for Compensation Studies. In this Q&A;, Dean Hallock talks about ILR today and shares some of his goals for the years ahead. A Conversation with ILR's New Dean