Rex Simpson ’70Rex Simpson is a 1970 Penn State Labor Studies graduate and a 1975 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School Of Law. He joined the Penn State LER faculty in 2013 after a 40-year career in human resource management with an emphasis on labor relations and labor law. Rex is a licensed attorney in Pennsylvania as well as in California, his current home. As a full-time LER Professor of Practice, Rex teaches a variety of online courses in labor law and human resources and was named the inaugural winner of the Kelley Willits award for excellence in online teaching in 2011.Rex had a varied career in the private sector before joining Penn State. He worked in human resources and employee relations in the retail industry (department stores JCPenney and Macy’s), the automotive industry (Honda), and tire manufacturing (Yokohama). He worked in all of the core areas of HR and eventually was given responsibility for directing the entire HR operation. Along the way, he also worked as an in-house labor counsel. And prior to his time in private industry, he spent almost five years with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) at its Pittsburgh Regional Office as a field attorney (his first case with the NLRB involved the Student Book Store in State College). Besides his general HR focus, Rex has done extensive labor relations work; handling organizational campaigns, negotiating collective bargaining agreements, and handling arbitrations. He has also participated in several jury trials as a key witness and/or second seat counsel in Ohio, Michigan, and California for cases involving wrongful termination and sexual harassment.At Penn State, Rex was one of the first two practitioners hired to teach a course in the School of LER’s online MPS program back in 2009. He has also been active with the LER Alumni Board (the APG), since 2009, serving as its co chair for several years. Rex is a proud Penn Stater and a Nittany Lion season ticket holder who makes the trek across country for two to three games a year.He is married, with four children and resides in Huntington Beach, California.