Employment and Labor Relations (B.A.)
The Employment and Labor Relations major provides students with the critical skills necessary to analyze employment, labor, and workplace issues. An interdisciplinary program that draws from fields as varied as anthropology, economics, history, law, literature, management, political science, psychology and sociology, the ELR program trains professionals in labor relations and human resources. As an interdepartmental unit, the ELR program provides students with a knowledge of employment and labor law, human resource management, compensation and benefits, conflict resolution and negotiation in the workplace, and other focused skills in the context of a broad liberal arts education. Through their course of study, students will gain the competencies necessary for work in management, government, non-profit organizations, and labor unions. Graduates with a BA-ELR find careers as labor organizers and union researchers, labor and community educators and advocates, human resource and personnel managers, and dispute resolution arbitrators, among other positions, in business, labor, public sector, and non-profit organizations. The BA-ELR program is good preparation for pursuing a professional degree in business or law, particularly in the area of labor and employment law.
Admission requirements for this program are satisfied by the general requirements for undergraduate admission to the University.
Candidates must complete 120 credits in course work including satisfaction of the University General Education Requirements and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Group Requirements, as well as the departmental major requirements cited below. All course work must be completed in accordance with the regulations of the University and the College governing undergraduate scholarship and degrees.
Students may satisfy the major in either of two ways: with a traditional concentration or with a concentration in Global Labor.
In both concentrations, students must complete the same set of core courses. The Global Labor concentration includes a curated list of elective courses that utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to analyzing the dynamic of labor and the workplace in a broader global context. The concentration provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the global operations of labor systems including, but not limited to, globalization, development economics, union revitalization, labor and employment law, human resource ethics, international labor rights, and comparative industrial relations between nations.
Traditional Concentration
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Core Courses | ||
| ELR 1110 | Work and Democracy: An Introduction | 3 |
| ELR 2500 | Introduction to Labor Studies | 4 |
| PSY 2100 | Psychology and the Workplace | 3 |
| or ANT 2050 | Anthropology of Business | |
| HIS 5290 | American Labor History | 4 |
| ECO 5480 | Economics of Work | 3 |
| ELR 4700 | Senior Seminar | 3 |
| Applied and Specialized Curriculum | ||
| Select four of the following: | 12 | |
| Survey of the Music Business and Labor | ||
| Labor Writing Studies | ||
| Black Women and Labor from the 'Nadir' to Black Power | ||
| The Car in American Life and Labor | ||
| Labor in Media and Popular Culture | ||
| Labor in Latin America | ||
| The Philosophy of Work | ||
| Topics in Labor Studies | ||
| Labor Through the Arts | ||
| From Proletariat to Precariat: Work and Workers in a Global Age | ||
| All About Class | ||
| “Workers of the World”: Labor Protest and Capitalism in the 21st Century | ||
| Labor Relations and Collective Bargaining in American Popular Cultur | ||
| Labor and Health | ||
| Applied Labor Studies (twelve credits may be elected as: Labor Relations: 3 cr.; Collective Bargaining: 3 cr.; Labor Law: 3 cr.; and Labor, Politics and Public Policy: 3 cr.) | ||
| Black Workers in American History | ||
| Labor in Latin America | ||
| Human Resource Management | ||
| Dispute Resolution | ||
| Employee Relations | ||
| Training and Employee Development | ||
| Political Parties and Elections | ||
| Political Interest Groups | ||
| The Legislative Process | ||
| Social Psychology | ||
| Social Inequality | ||
| Total Credits | 32 | |
Global Labor Concentration
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Core Courses | ||
| ELR 1110 | Work and Democracy: An Introduction | 3 |
| ELR 2500 | Introduction to Labor Studies | 4 |
| PSY 2100 | Psychology and the Workplace | 3 |
| or ANT 2050 | Anthropology of Business | |
| HIS 5290 | American Labor History | 4 |
| ECO 5480 | Economics of Work | 3 |
| ELR 4700 | Senior Seminar | 3 |
| Applied and Specialized Curriculum | ||
| Select four of the following: | 12 | |
| Labor in Latin America | ||
| From Proletariat to Precariat: Work and Workers in a Global Age | ||
| “Workers of the World”: Labor Protest and Capitalism in the 21st Century | ||
| Globalization: Theories, Practices, Implications | ||
| Global Supply Chain Management | ||
| Strategic Procurement | ||
| Seminar in Global Inequality and Development | ||
| Total Credits | 32 | |
Students are referred to the program director for information concerning courses, directed study, internships, career information, and graduate study.
The MAELR degree offers the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences' Accelerated Graduate Enrollment (AGRADE) program to qualified undergraduates. AGRADE provides the opportunity for top students to enroll simultaneously in an undergraduate and graduate degree program, and to apply a maximum of 16 credits toward both their undergraduate and master’s degrees in the student's major or closely aligned field.
Students electing AGRADE programs may expect to complete both their bachelor's and master's degrees in only five years of full-time study. This allows students to save both time and money as they pursue their undergraduate and graduate degrees simultaneously, making the most of their experiences at Wayne State. Students must apply for the AGRADE program during the semester that they earn 90 credits toward an undergraduate degree (typically during junior year). Applicants must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.3 and final approval from their major department.
Requirements
In addition, the ELR program requires the following materials for application to AGRADE:
- completion of the WSU ELR AGRADE application; a copy of the student's unofficial transcript(s);
- a one-page single-spaced letter of interest that conveys clearly and concisely the student's tentative career goals, how the program will help them achieve these goals, and what the student seeks to achieve in the MAELR program;
- a letter of recommendation from a faculty member (the faculty member should email their recommendation directly to the Director of Labor@Wayne).