Prof. Ron Seeber, industrial and labor relations and associate dean of the ILR school, was appointed as senior vice provost on Jul. 1. Seeber will hold the position through 2015 and will balance his new job’s duties with his previous positions as ILR dean, associate director of the Martin and Laurie Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution, and vice provost of land grant affairs.

“For the immediate future, it is simply a set of additional responsibilities,” Seeber said of his new post in an e-mail. “I had remained a part time professor in the ILR School for the past five years, but now will be a vice provost 100 percent of my time,” he said. “I will not be teaching in academic year '10-'11, but at some point I will resume my ILR teaching and research agenda.”              

Seeber’s new position will primarily involve overseeing the social and management science units of the University. These include the Survey Research Insitute, the Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research, and the Institute for Social Sciences, all of which are heavily referenced for their polls, data analysis and reports in media and academic papers across the nation.   

Seeber will also hold an important role in furthering the progress of recommendations made by academic task forces earlier this year. The task forces, arranged by Provost Kent Fuchs as part of the Reimagining Cornell process, were aimed at targeting areas where the University may be able to save money or improve functioning. 

“Many great ideas have surfaced as a result of the Reimagining Cornell process,” Seeber said. “I will be working specifically to strengthen the Social Sciences through the thoughtful application of the recommendations contained in the Social Sciences task force.  Similarly, the coordination of management education will be moved along in this and coming years.”

Seeber said he will address options of reducing social science programs at the University and consolidating the numerous management sciences programs into a single school of business and management, as recommended by the task forces. The recent creation of the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management will be another factor for Seeber to consider in moving forward with the management sciences.

“Cornell has greatly benefitted from Ron Seeber's leadership and service the past five years,” Provost Kent Fuchs said in a press release. I am particularly pleased that he is willing to serve another term with greater responsibilities,” Fuchs said.