Lou Jean directs Cornell University’s High Road Fellowships, an engaged learning and applied research internship for students working with community organizations on economic development in Buffalo.  A member of Cornell ILR School extension faculty since 1977, she served as statewide director of workforce, industry and economic development and was founding director of the Institute for Industry Studies.  She is also co-founder, director emerita and board chair of the Partnership for the Public Good.  Lou Jean’s teaching and research fields are economic development, labor management relations, and public economic policy.  A longtime activist for equal opportunity, quality jobs and workers’ rights, she served as the first chair of the City of Buffalo Living Wage Commission.  A native of Western Kansas, Lou Jean previously taught at the University of Buffalo and the University of Kentucky.