AFT National Higher Education Issues Conference
Solidarity in Action:  How AFT Can Shape the Future of Higher Education

March 30 - April 1, 2007
Hilton Portland & Executive Tower
Portland, OR

Conference Workshop Materials

Preconference Workshop Materials

Friday, March 30

ABCs of the AFT
Lawrence Gold, AFT Higher Education

• The ABCs of the AFT

AFT Higher Education Program and Policy Council: Questions and Answers

• Rundown of Key Activities 2006 and 2007

1:00 pm – 2:30 pm Workshops

Workshop I: Effective Lobbying in the Statehouse
Robert Wagner, AFT Oregon; Judith Michaels, California Federation of Teachers

• Effective Advocacy Techniques

Workshop II: Protecting Our Members’ Pensions
Carolyn Widener, California State Teachers' Retirement System; John Abraham, AFT Research

• Protecting Our Members’ Pensions: Retirement Security Debate
• Protecting Our Pensions

Workshop III: Protecting Job Security for Part-Time/Adjunct and Full-Time/ Nontenure-Track Faculty
Karen Sawislak, UC-AFT; Roberta Elins, United College Employees of the Fashion Institute of Technology

• Selected Contract Provisions on Job Security and Academic Freedom for Part-Time/Adjunct Faculty

Workshop IV: Building Positive Public Perceptions of the Union and Its Members
Kris Kemmerer, AFT Communications; Ellis Gage Searles, Mohawk Valley Community College Professional Association

• No Handout

Workshop V: Professional Staff: Outsourcing and Job Security
Jo Anne Edwards, Vermont State Colleges United Professionals; Robert Bower, Professional Staff Association at Rhode Island College

• State University Professional Services Negotiating Unit Agreement—2003-2007 Contract Agreement
• Outsourcing Language

Workshop VI: The State of the U.S. Academic Workforce Compared with other Countries
David Robinson, Canadian Association of University Teachers; Kathy Sproles, NEA National Council for Higher Education

• The Status of Higher Education Teaching Personnel in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States

Cyber Session:  AFT’s Resources for Bargaining: Surveys, Institutional Research and Contract Comparisons
Sue Clery, JBL Associates; Andrea Cecconi, AFT Research

• Overview:  Collective Bargaining Resources
• Collective Bargaining Resources 
• Using the AFT Online Contract Database

4:15 pm – 5:45 pm Workshops

Workshop I: The Faculty and College Excellence Campaign (FACE)—Making It Work in the States
Barbara Bowen, Professional Staff Congress, CUNY

• All materials used in this session are available on the AFT FACE web site

Workshop II: Meeting the Growing Challenge of Bargaining Healthcare
John Abraham, AFT Research

• Meeting the Growing Challenge of Bargaining Healthcare

Workshop III: Perspectives on College Access—American Academic Authors Talk Policy and Practice
Jennifer Engle, The Pell Institute; Kristan Venegas, University of Southern California; Philip Oreopoulos, University of Toronto

• The Internet and College Access: Challenges for Low-Income Students
• Post Secondary Access and Success for First-Generation Students

Workshop IV: Professional and Academic Freedom Issues for Contingent Faculty
Joe Berry, Labor Education Program of University of Illinois and Roosevelt University; Elaine Bobrove, Camden County College Adjuncts Faculty Federation

• Selected Contract Provisions on Job Security and Academic Freedom for Part-Time/Adjunct Faculty

Workshop V: Building Coalitions To Protect the Free Exchange of Ideas on Campus
Megan Fitzgerald, Center for Campus Free Speech; Craig Smith, AFT Higher Education

• Engaging Members & Building Coalitions To Defend the Free Exchange of Ideas Scenarios
• All other materials for this session are available on the Free Exchange on Campus web site

Workshop VI: Overcoming Gender and Family Bias on Campus
Donna Norton, University of California Hastings College of Law

• No Handout

Cyber Session:  AFT’s Electronic Tools for Local Communications
Jared Schwartz, AFT Editorial

• AFT Online Communication Tools

Saturday, March 31

10:30 am – 12:00 pm Workshops

Workshop I: Implementing AFT’s "Culture of Organizing" Campaign
Sandra Schroeder, AFT Washington; Rick Kuplinski, AFT Organization and Field Services

• The AFT MC/IO Program and the Four Pillars of Effective Internal Organizing
• Schematic of "The Organizing Conversation"
• The "Life Cycle" of a Unionist

Workshop II: Federal Higher Education Legislation, the New Congress and the ACE Program
Jamie Merisotis, Institute for Higher Education Policy; Jennifer Luciano, AFT Legislation

• No Handout

Workshop III: Professional Staff: Conflict Management on the Job
Arthurine De Sola, Professional Staff Congress, CUNY; Carol Kurtz, AFT Union Leadership Institute

• Forthcoming

Workshop IV: Contingent Faculty: Developing High Member Activism
Michael Fabricant, Professional Staff Congress, CUNY; David Dobbie, Graduate Employees Organization; Bonnie Halloran, Lecturers' Employee Organization

• The GEO-Michigan Organizing Model: An Overview
• Lecturers' Employee Organization Bargaining Unit Definition: All Nontenure-Track Faculty at University of Michigan

Workshop V: Union Initiatives in Teaching and Learning for Higher Education Faculty
Patricia McFarland, Milwaukee Area Technical College Federation; Ellen Schuler Mauk, Faculty Association at Suffolk Community College

• No Handout

Workshop VI: Promoting Universal Higher Education: New Initiatives from AFT & AFL-CIO
Sue Schurman, National Labor College; Lawrence Gold, AFT Higher Education

• No Handout

Cyber Session:  AFT’s Resources for Bargaining: Surveys, Institutional Research and Contract Comparisons
Sue Clery, JBL Associates; Andrea Cecconi, AFT Research

• Overview:  Collective Bargaining Resources
• Collective Bargaining Resources 
• Using the AFT Online Contract Database

12:00 pm – 2:00 pm Luncheon and Polishook Lecture:
Donna Euben, AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee

• Surmounting Legal and Legislative Attacks on the Academy

2:15 pm – 4:00 pm Workshops

Workshop I: Legal Issues
Daniel McNeil, AFT Legal; Donna Euben, AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee

• Model Constitution for Small Locals
• AFT Constitutional Mandates
• Constitution Outline and Checklist
• U.S. Department of Labor - Union Officer Elections
• Higher Education Legal Update

Workshop II: Media Relations
Jaime Zapata, AFT Public Affairs; Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed

• No Handout

Workshop III: Local Strategic Planning
Mark Richard, United Faculty of Miami-Dade Community College

• A Strategic Plan for Locals

Workshop IV: Part-Time and Contingent Faculty Forum
Elaine Bobrove, Camden County Community College Adjuncts Faculty Federation

• Selected Contract Provisions on Job Security and Academic Freedom for Part-Time/Adjunct Faculty
• AFT Contingent Faculty Program

Cyber Session:  AFT Higher Education Electronic Resources: A Hands-On Introduction
Jared Schwartz, AFT Editorial, Sue Clery, JBL Associates; Andrea Cecconi, AFT Research

• No Handout

Sunday, April 1

Closing Plenary: Academic Freedom: An Open Discussion of the Draft AFT Policy Statement
Jason Blank, Rhode Island College Chapter

• No Handout