Scholarship funds
Tributes to the union's best

by Priscilla Nemeth

Nan Lung is a roller skater and rock climber, a solid student, a natural leader and conflict mediator, a culture maven. In these ways, she is like Judy Parkas, the woman whose name graces the scholarship Lung won, awarded by the United College Employees of the Fashion Institute of Technology/AFT.

Presidential scholar Andrea Zeluck, editor of the school newspaper and a music lover, has attributes that made her a natural choice to receive the Lou Stollar scholarship, which is named after the man who helped found the UCE and is still its president.

The Professional Staff Congress at the City University of New York has an illustrious line of scholars who have received the Belle Zeller awards. One was a woman who had spent time working with Mother Teresa in India; another went on to become a Rhodes Scholar, still another was a musician and negotiator for the American Federation of Musicians before returning to college to become a teacher.

What better way to honor union leaders than to name scholarship funds for them? How better to carry on the spirit of the union itself by supporting lifelong education and fostering excellence?

AFT members may be most familiar with the Porter Scholars Program, established in 1992 to honor the spirit and dedication of the late AFT secretary-treasurer Robert Porter, who served in that post for nearly 30 years until his death in 1991. The Porter Scholars Program each year grants a growing number of four-year scholarships to high school seniors who are the children of AFT members and one-time grants to AFT members who are continuing their education. To date, $209,000 has been awarded to Porter Scholars.

The Cook County (Ill.) College Teachers Union views its local scholarship fund as a source of good public relations and as a union-building tool. Named for its president (and AFT vice president) Norman G. Swenson, the fund has handed out an average of $12,000 a year for the past 20 years to students for whom a $1,000 grant really has made a difference. Although applicants must be college students with at least a "B" average and from a union family or themselves working with a union, many also are economically disadvantaged, says Swenson. At a Cook County school, $1,000 covers nearly one year's tuition.

The Swenson fund has spawned offshoots: Twenty of CCCTU's 23 chapters also have scholarship funds, which are financed in three ways: endowment, per-capita contribution from the CCCTU and voluntary contributions. Approximately $120,000 per year is awarded to chapter students.

"Most of the news you hear about teachers unions is about conflict and self-interest," says Swenson. "Scholarship award information, which shows the good we're doing, is picked up by local papers quite extensively."

Scholarship programs also get members involved in the union--some serve on scholarship committees, others screen applications or come to the awards luncheons to speak about the students. Involvement is extensive, making it a great union-building tool, as well as a terrific professional activity, Swenson points out.

In New York, the UCE of FIT established a tribute in 1986 to a retired local leader--the late UCE vice president George Levinson, who taught business merchandising. The union has established two more scholarship programs since then; one honors retired liberal arts teacher, sports enthusiast and UCE retired executive vice president Judith Parkas. Another, more recent, program pays honor to Lou Stollar, who has been UCE president for more than 30 years and a FIT faculty member for more than 40 years.

Like the AFT's Porter Scholars Program, the UCE of FIT scholarship programs are funded through the union. While all of the union scholarship programs screen applications closely, using rigorous criteria, the UCE of FIT scholarship process goes a step further and interviews the student applicants. Philip Milio, UCE membership director, says that in interviewing student candidates, the union looks for people who meet the characteristics of the scholarships' namesakes--who have all devoted their lives to leadership. About $80,000 has been awarded through the three UCE scholarship programs, notes Milio, and by the end of this year the total will be closer to $100,000.

The Belle Zeller Scholarship Trust Fund was established by the AFT's Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York to honor its founding president. Zeller, who established the PSC more than 25 years ago, died in 1998. She had refused any party or plaques when she retired as president in 1976. Creating the scholarship awards for undergraduate students at CUNY, "was the only way we could give Belle a party and know she would show up," says trust fund chairperson Shirley Beheshti. Zeller attended the scholarship awards program nearly every year, Beheshti remembers, and "she glowed with pride at the evident promise of these students." The Belle Zeller program currently pays full in-state tuition ($1,600 per semester) to approximately one dozen students annually.

In 2000, the PSC decided to extend the scholarships to graduate students, calling the new program the Irwin H. Polishook Graduate Scholarship to honor the PSC president emeritus, AFT vice president and long-time chair of the AFT higher education program and policy council.

Also in New York is the New York State Public Employees Federation's Joseph Scacalossi Scholarships, named for the late PEF activist who helped organize and lead the union in its early years, and the brand-new Jean DeBow Women in Leadership Scholarship. It honors the memory of the union's late vice president, Jean DeBow, and highlights her efforts to raise the involvement of women in PEF and in the labor movement.

In Oregon, the AFT-Oregon awards scholarships are named in memory of three AFT leaders: the late AFT president Albert Shanker, Portland Federation of Teachers and Classified Employees Local 111 president and Oregon state legislator Shirley J. Gold, and former AFT president Carl J. Megel. The three funds together have distributed more than $28,000 to 34 awardees.

AFT research department director Jewell Gould is gathering information on named scholarship funds and other academic awards sponsored by AFT affiliates. Tell us about your local scholarship program by contacting Gould at 202/879-4428, or send an e-mail to: jgould@aft.org.