Ed Welch, professor emeritus of the Michigan State University School of Labor and Industrial Relations (SLIR) talks about his law career and his first contact with MSU in 1970 when the Muskegon law firm he worked for conducted labor and employment law seminars as part of SLIR's Labor Education Program (LEP). Welch says that he practiced labor law for many years, agreed to join SLIR on a part-time basis and specialize in workers compensation issues and finally came on board as a full time faculty member in 1999. He talks about the curriculum he taught, the Workers Comp Center and the Safety Center at MSU, being required to do enough outreach to cover his salary and expenses, his work and travel demands, the newsletter he published, the interpersonal and professional dynamics in SLIR, becoming director of the Human Resources Education and Training Center (HRETC) within SLIR, the tensions between the academic program faculty and the extension service faculty, and the effectiveness and legacy of SLIR and what he liked about his association with it. Welch is interviewed by John Revitte, professor of Human Resources and Labor Relations at Michigan State University.
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