Human Resources EssentialsCornell Certificate Program

Diane Burton is a professor in the ILR School at Cornell University. Her primary appointment is in human resource studies, with courtesy appointments in organizational behavior and sociology. Prior to joining the Cornell faculty in 2009, Professor Burton was a faculty member at the MIT Sloan School of Management. She began her academic career at the Harvard Business School teaching leadership and organizational behavior. Professor Burton earned her Ph.D. in sociology at Stanford University and served as a lecturer and researcher in organizational behavior and human resources management at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Alexander Colvin, Ph.D., ’99, is the Kenneth F. Kahn ’69 Dean and the Martin F. Scheinman ’75, M.S. ’76, Professor of Conflict Resolution at Cornell University’s ILR School.

Dean Colvin’s research and teaching focuses on employment dispute resolution, with a particular emphasis on procedures in non-union workplaces and the impact of the legal environment on organizations. His current research projects include empirical investigations of employment arbitration and cross-national analysis of labor law and dispute resolution. Dean Colvin is the co-author of “An Introduction to U.S. Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations” (with T. Kochan and H. Katz) and of “Arbitration Law “( with K. Stone and R. Bales).

Dean Colvin received his J.D. in 1992 from the University of Toronto and his Ph.D. in 1999 from Cornell University. He received the 2003 Outstanding Young Scholar Award from the Industrial Relations Research Association (IRRA) and the 2000 Best Dissertation Award from the IRRA for his dissertation entitled “Citizens and Citadels: Dispute Resolution and the Governance of Employment Relations.” Before joining the faculty of the ILR School, Dean Colvin taught at Penn State University from 1999 to 2008.

John Hausknecht is a Professor of Human Resource Studies at Cornell University. He earned his Ph.D. in 2003 from Penn State University with a major in industrial/organizational psychology and minor in management. He received the 2004 S. Rains Wallace Award for the best dissertation in the field of industrial/organizational psychology. Professor Hausknecht’s research primarily falls within the domain of staffing and has appeared in the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Personnel Psychology. Recent papers have examined applicant persistence in selection settings, reactions to company hiring practices, and predictors and consequences of collective-level absenteeism and turnover. He currently serves on the editorial boards of the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Personnel Psychology.

Professor Hausknecht teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses on human resource management, staffing organizations, and HR analytics. He received the ILR School’s MacIntyre Award for exemplary teaching in 2008. Prior to academia, he worked as a consultant to Fortune 500 firms in the areas of leadership assessment, talent management, and organizational change. Professor Hausknecht is a member of the Academy of Management, American Psychological Association, Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, and Society for Human Resource Management.

Lisa Nishii joined the faculty of the Human Resource Studies department at the ILR School, Cornell University after receiving her Ph.D. and M.A. in Organizational Psychology from the University of Maryland, and a B.A in economics from Wellesley College.

Nishii is an expert on inclusion in organizations. Her research focuses on the confluence of organizational practices, leadership behaviors, and climate for inclusion on individual- and group-level outcomes. Using multi-level and multi-method research designs across a number of large-scale federally funded projects, she has found that leaders play an important role in shaping inclusion. In particular, the extent to which leaders role model inclusive behaviors, clarify the learning and innovation benefits of diversity for the group’s work, and set strong norms related to interpersonal interactions, determines the inclusiveness of their workgroup climates. In turn, workgroup climate has important implications for the authenticity of the relationship that group members develop, the positive versus negative quality of relational ties, the information that is shared among group members, the extent of conflict that is experienced, and ultimately the creativity, financial performance, and turnover rates associated with these groups. Workgroup climate also impacts individual-level experiences of discrimination versus inclusion, as well as engagement and performance. She is currently developing and testing the effectiveness of training interventions for leaders as well as for in-tact teams on how to cultivate workgroup inclusion. Nishii’s earlier research focused primarily on diversity in individual-level cognition and behavior as determined by national culture.

Nishii actively publishes in top-tier journals, including the Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, and Science, and serves on the editorial boards for AMR, AMJ, and JAP. She is currently the Chair of the Academy of Management’s Gender and Diversity in Organizations Division, and the Chair of the ILR School’s International Programs. She serves on a variety of college and university-level councils for diversity, globalization, and engaged learning. Nishii also consults with multinational companies, primarily related to diversity and inclusion and organizational assessment.

Judi Brownell is Professor Emeritus at the Nolan School of Hotel Administration, Cornell University, where she has served as Dean of Students, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, and Director of Graduate Studies. Dr. Brownell teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in listening, leadership, communication, and organizational behavior, and her online programs are taken worldwide. Her current research interests include identifying key competencies associated with leadership effectiveness, managerial listening behavior, and enhancing service quality.

Dr. Brownell has published nearly 100 articles in professional journals and written numerous other publications. Her textbooks include “The Listening Advantage”; “Organizational Behavior for the Hospitality Industry” (with Florence Berger); “Organizational Communication and Behavior” (with Allan Frank); and “Listening: Attitudes, Principles, and Skills,” now in its seventh edition. A past president of the International Listening Association and the recipient of listening research awards, Dr. Brownell has been inducted into the International Listening Association’s Hall of Fame.

JR Keller is an Associate Professor of Human Resource Studies in the ILR School at Cornell University. Professor Keller’s research focuses on understanding how firms make hiring decisions and individuals make career choices, with a particular interest in the ways in which the dynamics shape how employees change jobs within firms.

Professor Keller’s work has appeared in several leading academic and practitioner outlets, including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Harvard Business Review, Industrial & Labor Relations Review, People & Strategy, and Organization Science.

Prior to pursuing a Ph.D., Professor Keller had two careers: the first as a financial analyst and the second as a career consultant. He earned his Ph.D. in Management from the Wharton School of Business and holds a Master’s in Adult Education from Indiana University as well as undergraduate degrees in Finance and Computer Applications from the University of Notre Dame.