DEADLINE: July 1, 2009

PURPOSE: The Labor and Employment Relations Association has established an annual competition for post-doctoral students in the field of industrial relations* or related fields such as history, political science, economics, sociology, etc., as long as they are broadly related to employment relations as reflected in the publications and membership of the LERA. The purpose is twofold: (1) to stimulate greater awareness and interest among doctoral students at colleges and universities of the field of industrial relations, and (2) to provide a vehicle by which an outstanding thesis by a doctoral student can be made more widely known to scholars in the field.

ELIGIBILITY: The Thomas A. Kochan and Stephen R. Sleigh Best Dissertation Award competition is open to doctoral students who have completed their thesis at accredited colleges and universities in the calendar year of 2008 or prior to June 30, 2009. All dissertations and correspondence must be in the English language.

AWARDS: The competition prize to be awarded annually shall be $1,000 (one-thousand-dollars). The winner shall be announced at the Association's Annual Meeting and the prize paid within thirty (30) days after the conclusion of the meeting in January. A one (1) year complimentary LERA membership will also be granted to the winning author.

JUDGING: Entries will be judged on the basis of originality, quality of analysis, quality of research, style and organization, practicality and timeliness of subject. The entries will be judged by members of a special Academic Awards Committee.

ENTRY PROCEDURE: Students who wish to enter the competition need to complete an entry form and submit it with a copy of their vita/resume, the thesis, and a letter from a member of the student's Ph.D. Committee stating why the thesis is especially meritorious. The official entry form (downloadable PDF) must be completed and returned with the other entry materials. The form, thesis, letter from the student's committee and a vita and sent to:

Paula Wells, Executive Director
Labor and Employment Relations Association
121 School of LER
504 East Armory Avenue
Champaign, IL 61820

ENTRY DEADLINE: Entries for the 2009 contest must be submitted to the LERA headquarters in Champaign, Illinois, postmarked by U.S mail or recognized commercial express service on or before July 1, 2009. The thesis may be submitted by email but not faxed. The winners will be notified by mail of their selection by mid-November of each year.

For further information, contact the LERA Office at (217) 333-0072 or email LERAoffice@illinois.edu

* Industrial Relations is defined as all aspects of the field of labor and employment including employer and employee organizations, labor relations, labor markets, labor economics, human resources, and the workplace.

Past Winners
2009
		Mingwei Liu, Rutgers University
		Marco Hauptmeier, Cardiff University
Honorable Mention Awards:		J. Ryan Lamare, Cornell University Adam Seth Litwin, John Hopkins University
2008
		David Madland, Georgetown University
		Ariel Avgar, Cornell University
Honorable Mention Awards:		Rocio Bonet, University of Pennsylvania Rupa Banerjee, University of Toronto Kyoung-Hee Yu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2007
		Bethany Moreton, Yale University
Honorable Mention Awards:		Amanda Tattersall, University of Sydney Laura Ariovich, Northwestern University
2006
		Virginia Doellgast, King's College London
		Andrew Charlwood, Leeds University
Honorable Mention Awards:		Mark Price, University of Utah Konstantinos Tzioumis, London School of Economics and Political Science
2005
		Daniyal Zuberi, University of British Columbia
		Danielle D. van Jaarsveld , University of British Columbia
Honorable Mention Awards:		Mark Anner, Pennsylvania State University Brenda C. Sun, The London School of Economics and Political Science
2004
		Eric Verhoogen, Columbia University
		Chris Riddell, University of British Columbia
Honorable Mention Awards:		Isabel Fernandez-Mateo, MIT Forrest Briscoe, MIT
2003
		Anthony Zumbolo, New York State Public Employment Relations Board, Mediator
Honorable Mention Awards:		Haejin Kim, Assistant Professor, Department of Management, School of Business and Public Administration, California State University – Dominguez Hills Elizabeth Craig, Assistant Professor, Organizational Behavior Department, School of Management, Boston University Lydia Fraile, Research Assistant to the LARA Project, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Political Science
2002
		Elizabeth Hoffmann, Purdue University, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Honorable Mention Awards:		Corinne Bendersky, Assistant Professor, Anderson Graduate School of Management, UCLA, Human Resources and Organizational Behavior Aparna Joshi, Assistant Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Institute of Labor and Industrial Relations George Benson, University of Southern California, Marshall Business School
2001
		Eunjong Shin, Bureau of Planning and Management, Ministry of Labor, “Unions, Government, and the Politics of Industrial Relations in Korea: Union Bargaining Power and Labor Control Policy from Democratization to IMB Intervention”
Honorable Mention Awards:		Wendy Boswell, Texas A&M University Alexander Turk, Internal Revenue Service
2000
		Alex Colvin, Pennsylvania State University
Honorable Mention Awards:		Clinton Chadwick, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Rafael Gomez, London School of Economics Susan Moeser, University of Wisconsin-Madison Karaleah Reichart, California State University, Fullerton

Labor and Employment Relations Association
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
121 Labor and Employment Relations Bldg., 504 E. Armory Ave., Champaign, IL 61820
Tel: 217-333-0072 | Fax: 217-265-5130 | LERAoffice@illinois.edu| www.lera.illinois.edu