AFT recognizes that professional staff play a crucial role in higher education and that they need their voice and working conditions protected. This is why thousands of professional staff have joined AFT locals. In some cases, professional staff are in joint faculty and staff units, such as the 11,000-plus professional staff members of the United University Professions at the State University of New York (SUNY). Other locals, such as the University of Connecticut Professional Employees, represent over 1,300 professional staff exclusively. In either case, the goal is to ensure the active participation of professional staff in determining their working conditions and having a voice in their institution in general.

• Form a Union with the AFT

Publications

AFT has a variety of publications that address issues affecting professional staff, as well as policy statements on higher education issues. Listed below are some publications that may be of interest to professional staff members.

Standards of Good Practice in the Employment of Professional Staff in Higher Education, January 2006

Professionally Speaking:  The Story of AFT Professional Staff in Higher Education, May 2004

Technology Review: Key Trends, Bargaining Strategies and Educational Issues, October 2003

Shared Governance in Colleges and Universities, April 2002

Student Persistence in College: More than Counting Caps and Gowns, August 2003