Robert W. Glover is a Research Scientist at the Ray Marshall Center for the Study of Human Resources, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin where he has specialized in studies of labor markets, learning and work for nearly three decades. His research has focused on various aspects of human resource development, including education, apprenticeship, industry training practices, school-to-work transition, and skill standards. He has authored or co-authored more than 60 published articles, books, and monographs on various aspects of work and learning. He was chair of the Federal Committee on Apprenticeship from 1978 through 1982.
Glover has helped to staff several national commissions, including the Commission on Skills of the American Workforce (America’s Choice: high skills or low wages!), the Action Council on Quality of Minority Education (Education that Works: An Action Plan for Minority Education). He has served as an advisor to various government agencies, including the U.S. General Accounting Office, the Office of Technology Assessment, and the U.S. Departments of Labor and Education. At the international level, he has participated in several study teams to research training practices. He led a research team to examine the governance and finance of apprenticeship and youth training in Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland.
Dr. Glover has direct experience with workforce issues in several industries, including semiconductor manufacturing, construction, health care, and agriculture. He has been active in helping to design workforce development strategies and programs for semiconductor manufacturers. In construction, Glover helps to staff the Workforce Group of the Center for Construction Industry Studies in the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin. In health care, Glover has helped to initiate various school-to-career initiatives. For the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Glover chaired a Work Group of agricultural employers and worker advocates that sought to identify common ground and a series of practical actions.
In Texas, Glover has worked with various state agencies on issues related to education, school-to-work, workforce development, and skill standards. For the Texas Education Agency, he conducted a project on Technology, Education and the Texas Economy. He has collaborated with the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin to encourage alignment of school-to-career initiatives with reforms in teaching and learning mathematics and science in Texas public schools conducted under the Texas State Systemic Initiative (SSI) under funding from the National Science Foundation..
Since 1991, Dr. Glover has worked closely with the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and other industry groups, individual firms, the City of Austin, Austin Community College and school districts to implement various school-to-career initiatives in Central Texas. He has authored or co-authored several articles on school-to-career developments in Austin. He also helped to establish a program of international apprenticeship and training exchanges between Austin and Koblenz, Germany operated under the international sister city program.
Glover has a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Texas at Austin, with a focus on labor economics and human resource development.