Ronald Seeber

Overview

Ron Seeber is a Senior Vice Provost at Cornell University and a Professor of Industrial and Labor Relations. He received his B.S. in Industrial Engineering from Iowa State University in 1975. He attended the Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, from which he received his A.M. (1977) and Ph.D. (1981).

As Senior Vice Provost, he is responsible for the social science infrastructure units, which support social scientists across all the colleges and include the Survey Research Institute, the Cornell Institute for Social and Economic Research, the Institute for Social Sciences and the Institute for Advancement of Economics. He also works with the Provost to oversee and advance social science and management science initiatives across the colleges.

In 2005 Professor Seeber was appointed the Vice Provost for Land Grant Affairs. He continues in that role by serving as the coordinator of the four New York State Contract Colleges at Cornell, and represents the University in its dealing with the State University of New York and the state government. In addition, his office supports the broader land grant mission of the University in all of the colleges. The ROTC programs on campus also report directly through Dr. Seeber to the provost.

Professor Seeber was appointed to the faculty at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University in 1980, and became the Associate Dean and Director of Extension in 1987, a position in which he served until the end of 1999. He is also an Associate Director of the Martin and Laurie Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution.

Professor Seeber has taught and conducted research on a wide variety of topics related to labor-management relations, negotiations and dispute resolution. He is the author or editor of seven books and monographs on labor relations and dispute resolution, as well as numerous scholarly articles and book chapters.

Teaching Statement

I teach in the areas of collective bargaining, and more generally negotiation and dispute resolution.

Research Statement

My research focus has been on negotiations, conflict resolution, industrial relations in various private sector industries, as well as conflict management in organizations.

Publications

Journal Articles

• Ronald Ehrenberg, Kevin Hallock, Ronald Seeber, Kenneth T Whelan. 2012. Adverse Selection and Incentives in an Early Retirement Program, Research in Labor Economics . 36:159-190.
• David Lipsky, Ronald Seeber, James Ryan Lamare. 2010. The Arbitration of Employment Disputes in the Securities Industry, Dispute Resolution Journal . 65(1):12; 54-61.
• Ronald Seeber, David Lipsky. 2005. The Transformation of the Social Contract in the U.S. Workplace and the Emergence of New Strategies of Dispute Resolution, Human Resources and Employment Review .
• Ronald Seeber, David Lipsky. 1999. What We Know and Don’t Know About Mediation, Business Law Today .
• Ronald Seeber, Mary Lehman. 1989. The Union Response to Employer-Initiated Drug Testing Programs, Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal . 2(1).
• Ronald Seeber, William Cooke. 1983. The Decline in Union Success in NLRB Representation Elections, Industrial Relations . 22
• Ronald Seeber, Mollie Bowers, Lamont Stallworth. 1982. Grievance Mediation: A Route to Resolution for the Cost Conscious 1980s, Labor Law Journal . 33

Books

• David Lipsky, Ronald Seeber, Richard D. Fincher. 2003. Emerging Systems for Managing Workplace Conflict: Lessons from American Corporations for Managers and Dispute Resolution Professionals. San Francisco, CA, United States: Jossey-Bass, 2003. (406 pp.)
• Lois Gray, Ronald Seeber. 1996. Under the Stars: Essays on Labor Relations in Arts and Entertainment. Ithaca NY, United States: ILR Press, 1996.
• Ronald Seeber. 1994. Restoring the Promise of American Labor Law (co-editor). Ithaca NY, United States: Cornell University Press, 1994. Sheldon Friedman, Richard W Hurd, Rudolph A Oswald, Ronald Seeber.
• Ronald Seeber. 1993. Research in the Sociology of Organizations: Special Issue on Labor Relations and Unions (co-editor). Greenwich CT, United States: JAI Press, 1993. Samuel Bacharach, Ronald Seeber, David Walsh.
• Ronald Seeber, E Edward Herman, Alfred Kuhn. 1987. Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations. Englewood Cliffs NJ, United States: Prentice-Hall, 1987.

Book Chapters

• David Lipsky, Ronald Seeber, . 2009. Social Capital and the Labor Movement. in New Directions in the Study of Work and Employment: Revitalizing Industrial Relations as an Academic Enterprise. Northampton, MA, United States: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009. Charles J. Whalen. (89-109)
• David Lipsky, Ronald Seeber. 2006. Managing Organizational Conflicts. in The Sage Handbrook of Conflict Communication. Thousand Oaks, CA, United States: Sage Publications, 2006. John G. Oetzel and Stella Ting-Toomey. (359-390)
• David Lipsky, Ronald Seeber, Lavinia Hall. 2004. An Uncertain Destination: On the Development of Conflict Management Systems in U.S. Corporations. in Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Employment Arena. New York, NY, United States: Kluwer Law International, 2004. Samuel Estreicher and David Sherwyn. (109-151)
• Ronald Seeber, Kate Bronfenbrenner, Sheldon Friedman, Richard Hurd, Rudolph Oswald. 1997. The Context for Organizing Research. in Organizing to Win. Ithaca NY, United States: Cornell University Press, 1997. Kate Bronfenbrenner, Sheldon Friedman, Richard W Hurd, Rudolph Oswald, Ronald Seeber.
• Ronald Seeber, Lois Gray. 1995. Looking Ahead: The Future of Labor Relations. in Under the Stars: Essays on Labor Relations in Arts and Entertainment. Ithaca NY, United States: Cornell University Press, 1995.
• Ronald Seeber, Lois Gray. 1995. Under the Stars. in Under the Stars: Essays on Labor Relations in Arts and Entertainment. Ithaca NY, United States: Cornell University Press, 1995.
• Ronald Seeber, Sheldon Friedman, Richard Hurd, Rudolph Oswald. 1994. The Context for the Reform of Labor Law. in Restoring the Promise of American Labor Law. Ithaca NY, United States: Cornell University Press, 1994. Sheldon Friedman, Richard Hurd, Rudolph Oswald, Ronald Seeber.
• Ronald Seeber. 1991. Trade Union Growth and Decline: The Movement and the Individual. in The State of the Unions. Madison WI, United States: Industrial Relations Research Association, 1991. George Strauss, Jack Fiorito, Dan Gallagher.
• Ronald Seeber. 1987. Agricultural Machinery. in Collective Bargaining in American Industry: Selected Studies. Boston MA, United States: D.C. Heath, 1987. David Lipsky, Cliff Donn.
• Ronald Seeber. 1987. Internal Organizing for Political Action. in Union Power in the Future. Ithaca NY, United States: ILR Labor Studies Program, 1987. Ken Gagala.
• Ronald Seeber. 1983. Union Organizing in the Manufacturing Sector, 1973-1976. in Advances in Industrial and Labor Relations. Greenwich CT, United States: JAI Press, 1983. David B Lipsky, Joel M Douglas.

Book Sections

• Kate Bronfenbrenner, Sheldon Friedman, Richard Hurd, Rudolph A Oswald, Ronald Seeber. 1998. Organizing to Win: Introduction. in Organizing to win: New research on union strategies. Ithaca NY, United States: ILR Press, 1998. K Bronfenbrenner, S Friedman, R Hurd, R Oswald, R Seeber. (1-15)

Conference Proceedings

• David Lipsky, Ronald Seeber, Ariel C Avgar, Rocco M. Scanza. 2007. Managing the Politics of Evaluation: Lessons from the Evaluation of ADR Programs. in Proceedings of the Fifty-Ninth Annual Meeting. Champaign, IL, United States: Labor and Employment Relations Association, 2007. (116-129)
• David Lipsky, Ronald Seeber. 2004. Dispute Resolution in the Changing Workplace. in Proceedings of the Fifty-Sixth Annual Meeting. Champaign, IL, United States: Industrial Relations Research Association, 2004.
• Ronald Seeber, David Lipsky. 2004. The Social Contract and Dispute Resolution: The Transformation of the Social Contract in the U.S. Workplace and the Emergence of New Strategies of Dispute Resolution. in Regulation, Deregulation and Reregulation: The Scope of Employment Relations in the 21st Century, Proceedings of the 11th Annual Conference of the International Employment Relations Association. Australia: 2004. Geoff White, Susan Corby, Celia Stanworth.
• David Lipsky, , Michel Picher, Ronald Seeber. 2001. The Arbitration Profession in Transition: Final Report to the National Academy of Arbitrators. in Proceedings of the Fifty-Third Annual Meeting. Washington, DC, United States: The Bureau of National Affairs, 2001. Steven Briggs.
• David Lipsky, Michel Picher, Ronald Seeber. 2000. The Arbitration Profession in Transition: Preliminary Results from a Survey of the National Academy of Arbitrators. in Arbitration 1999--Proceedings of the Fifty-Second Annual Meeting, National Academy of Arbitrators. Washington, DC, United States: Bureau of National Affairs, 2000. Jay E. Grenig and Steven Briggs. (241-264)
• David Lipsky, Ronald Seeber. 1999. The Growth of Alternative Dispute Resolution in U.S. Employment Relations: Privatizing the American System of Justice. in The Yearbook on Work and Technology 1999-2000. Bonn, Germany: Dietz, 1999. (162-167)
• Ronald Seeber. 1990. The Labor Education / Industrial Relations Nexus: Challenges and Opportunities. in Proceedings of the Forty-Second Annual Meetings of the Industrial Relations Research Association. Atlanta GA, United States: Industrial Relations Research Association, 1990.

Professional Activities

• Arbitrating Employment Disputes in the Financial Services Industry: An Analysis of the Experience, 1988-2008. Presented to Scheinman Institute on Conflict Resolution. Ithaca, NY. 2010.

Honors and Awards

• IFC/Panhellenic Council Award for Teaching, Cornell University. 2005

### Areas of Expertise

Alternative dispute resolution

Collective Bargaining

Conflict Resolution

Contract negotiations

Dispute resolution

Employee Relations

Interest-based negotiations

Labor relations

Labor-management cooperation

Mediation

Negotiations

Unions

Workers' Compensation