Today the PSU Board of Trustees meets to announce the next President of Portland State University. Our PSU-AAUP will join colleagues from all campus unions (PSUFA, part-time faculty; GEU, graduate employees; SEIU 503 and 49, classified workers) to extend an enthusiastic welcome to the new President of PSU. We look forward to a strong, healthy, and productive relationship that leverages our collective resources on behalf of educational quality and equity.
This spring and summer we are working to strengthen two important benefits we got for faculty and academic professionals in the collective bargaining agreement with PSU a year ago: a pilot Bridge Funding for NTTF Research Faculty that gives PI’s access to funding to keep research faculty on board between grants, and the Sick Leave Bank for PSU-AAUP members facing personal or family emergencies and who need more sick leave time than they have accrued.
This academic year has been the pilot year for both efforts. It is perhaps not surprising that the roll-out has been, well, bumpy. PSU-AAUP is organizing your — our members’ — input on how to improve the Bridge Funding and Sick Leave Bank, and we will take this input to PSU administration, and make sure we get significant improvements in how both benefits are administered next year. The Bridge Funding and the Sick Leave Bank are gains that faculty and academic professionals have wanted for many years. We will tackle the bumpy roll-out, and fix the administrative shortcomings, to make sure both of these programs are a complete success!
Please attend one of two "Information, Listening, and Gripe" problem-solving sessions on the Sick Leave Bank that we are holding at noon, Tuesday, May 16 (SMSU 238), and Wednesday, May 17 (SMSU 328/9). Administrators keen on improving the Bank will be present.