ILR Worker Institute Research Fellowship Program

At its heart, the Worker Institute views its work as a contribution to reversing the growing inequality, now at historic levels, which undermines the economic and social sustainability of a vibrant democratic society.  The Institute provides the nation’s most comprehensive education, training, research, and organizational support for union leaders and worker advocates.  Worker Institute research fellows, sometimes in small teams, will have the opportunity to work directly with Ithaca-based faculty and ILR labor extension faculty based in NYC.

The fellowship program’s goal is to provide ILR students with a unique opportunity to contribute to important projects concerning workers and unions, expand their research skills, learn about potential career paths and interact with faculty, labor leaders and other fellows.

The main selection criteria include a strong academic record and a demonstrated interest in one of the Worker Institute’s research areas. 

Worker Institute Public Engagement & Communications

The Worker Institute (WI) brings together researchers, educators and students with practitioners
in labor, business and policymaking to address issues related to confronting systemic inequality
and building a fair economy, robust democracy and just society. The WI website plays an
important role in the WI’s public engagement by presenting information, analysis, and updates
about WI activities – through articles about WI research, published reports, conferences and
convenings, and labor education and training. Student researchers will learn about the WI
activities in all these areas and will write articles about them for the WI website. This will entail a
wide range of research and writing by the student researchers, including learning about research
reports and activities as they are being developed and implemented, writing articles for the
website that present WI research and activities in ways that highlight key issues, findings, and
innovations to the public, and engaging in interviews with WI faculty and stakeholders (e.g. labor
leaders) for articles about their work.

 – with ILR Professor and WI Academic Director Risa Lieberwitz