Cornell Daily Sun

April 25, 1997

Students, Faculty Receive ILR School's Top Honor

By SARAH STRIFFLER

An awards dinner held in the Yale-Princeton Room of the Statler Hotel last night highlighted the achievements of students and professors in the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Addressing the guests of honor at the fourth annual MacIntyre Awards Dinner, Associate ILR Dean Robert Smith said it was a "special privilege to work with you, the top students."

According to Smith, the purpose of the evening was to "celebrate the learning process by celebrating our top students and top professors." As students and faculty finished off the remains of their desserts, the first awards were given out "in evaluation of teaching and recognition of teaching," according to master of ceremonies James McPherson, director of student services for the ILR school.

Prof, Ali Hadi, chair of social statistics and Prof. Risa Lieberwitz, collective bargaining and labor law each received the Schering-Plough Exemplary Teaching Award for excellence in undergraduate teaching, which included $1,500 and an engraved plaque.

Upon accepting his award, Hadi expressed his desire to "continue my efforts to become a good teacher."

Prof. Martin Wells, social statistics, received the General Mills Foundation Award for Exemplary Graduate Teaching. One student evaluation described him as "one of the best classroom teachers I have ever encountered."

The remainder of the evening centered around students. For her achievement in the course, Industrial and Labor Relations Collective Bargaining 201: Labor and Employment Law, Heather Mahar '99 was honored as the first-ever recipient of the John O'Donnell Prize. An emotional presentation followed in which Hadi expressed his sadness for the death of a former friend and student, Edward P. Sriyder'86. He then presented Jospeh Choi grad with the Edward P. Snyder Prize in Statistics.

McPherson called on both teachers and students to recognize 17 seniors as candidates for graduation with honors. He suggested that they all take a moment "to applaud each other" for their hard work.

The ceremony moved on to acknowledge a select group of seniors for special awards. Michael Lingle '97 and Seth Stern '97 received the Daniel Alperh Award given for scholarship, leadership and service to the ILR school. A schoolwide luncheon to be held later this semester will honor the school's two Merrill Presidential Scholars, Tanya Axenson '97 and Lingle, for academic excellence.

The James Campbell Award - which recognizes friendliness and humility - went to Caroline Westover '97. The final award of the evening was directed towards a senior who - according to the presenters - maintains integrity and a sense of responsibility, and understands the concepts of good faith and good will. Rachel Schottland, '97 garnered this prize, the Irving M. Ives Award. Senator Irving Ives, for whom the award was named, was the first dean of the ILR School. McPherson concluded the evening urging both students and professors to "once again applaud one another for a job well done. "