Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Student Groups

ILIR students have numerous opportunities to forge friendships and build leadership skills. By serving on committees and being active in Institute organizations, you can start honing the skills that you will use throughout your career as a human resource professional. There are 4 different Institute student organizations and over 850 registered campus student organizations at the University in which you can become involved.

Student Society for Human Resource Management (SSHRM)

The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) is the leading organization in the human resource management profession with over 120,000 professional and 9,000 student members worldwide. The student chapter at the University of Illinois provides opportunities for all students interested in human resource management to explore the field and advance their knowledge of issues, trends, career opportunities, and to network with business professionals and fellow students. SSHRM holds regular meetings with featured speakers and facilitates interactions with the local Champaign-Urbana professional chapter. Membership in the national SHRM organization provides many benefits to student including conferences, research, and excellent HR publications. You may also check out the national web site at www.shrm.org.

Labor and Industrial Relations Association (LIRA)

Upon enrollment in the Institute, you are automatically a member of the Labor and Industrial Relations Association. LIRA has three goals: to foster the study of labor relations and human resources through a variety of social, recreation, and intellectual programs; to enrich the personal and professional development of students through dialogue with practitioners and plant trips; and finally to represent student interests on a variety of Institute committees such as admissions and placement. Elections are held at the beginning of each semester and all students are encouraged to become active members.

Labor and Industrial Relations-Minority Student Association (MSA)

Formed in 1993, this Minority Student Association's purpose is to recruit, retain, and support qualified students from underrepresented minority groups. MSA encourages ILIR students to support minority issues, and to participate in activities that support its three goals of increasing the number of minority students at the Institute through school fairs and information sessions, retaining students of color by fostering a comfortable academic and social environment, and supporting minority student involvement at the Institute by encouraging them to take a more inclusive role.

Labor Studies Club

This group was formed with the primary purpose of seeing that students were afforded the opportunity to network with the labor community in the interest of future jobs and current research projects. The club also works to educate the University community about labor issues. The group meets regularly for fun and fellowship and to hear speakers talk about a variety of issues pertaining to labor.