School of Management and Labor Relations

ABOUT SMLR Rutgers' School of Management and Labor Relations (SMLR) is the leading source of expertise on the world of work, building effective and sustainable organizations, and the changing employment relationship. The school is comprised of two departments—one focused on all aspects of strategic human resource management and the other dedicated to the social science specialties related to labor studies and employment relations—with faculty from a wide variety of disciplinary backgrounds. The Human Resource Management department is focused on all aspects of strategic human resource management, including understanding the role of human resources in determining individual and organizational success and managing human resources in a global context. The Labor Studies and Employment Relations department studies and teaches about all aspects of work and the employment relationships and in particular how collective representation and public policy can improve the well-being of workers. In addition, SMLR provides many continuing education and certificate programs taught by world-class researchers and expert practitioners. Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations (SMLR) was founded on the idea that collaboration between labor and management was the key to not only improving the economic welfare of employees but also the communities served by their employers. SMLR connects these two seemingly competing interests, focusing on research and education that improves understanding of employment relationships from two equally important perspectives. SMLR produces new knowledge through research and helps translate that knowledge into tools for better practice through its human resource management and labor studies & employment relations curricula. The school also offers advice on state and national policy through its distinguished faculty and research centers. SMLR remains at the forefront of research and applied practice by maintaining relationships with key stakeholders in government, business, and labor organizations developed over its 70-year history. HISTORY SMLR was originally established by an act of the New Jersey legislature in 1947 as the Institute of Management and Labor Relations (IMLR). Like its counterparts that were created in the other large industrial states at the same time, the Institute was chartered to promote new forms of labor-management cooperation following the industrial unrest at the end of World War II. It officially became a school at the flagship campus of the State University of New Jersey in New Brunswick/Piscataway in 1994.