Announcements:
Join PSU-AAUP in Portland's May Day March, May 1, 4 pm Shemanski Park
Please join Together 4 PSU (PSU-AAUP, students, staff & part-time faculty),
connecting with the community to "Fight for the Future of 'Portland's University'"
We'll pass out stickers as marchers start to leave the park, then join the march!
PSU-AAUP Reimburses Members for Graduation Regalia Rental!
Contact PSU Office Coordinator Tita Compere, tita@psuaaup.net
News:
Continuity and Change in Leadership for PSU-AAUP
The Ongoing Fight for the Budget and Academic Values
Figuring "Years of Service" for AP Compression Raises
Continuity and Change in Leadership for PSU-AAUP
On May 1, several people will take office for the PSU-AAUP, joining continuing members of the Executive Council.
New Officers include:
Pam Miller, President
Leanne Serbulo, VP for Bargaining
José Padín, VP for Grievances (& Incoming President of AAUP-Oregon)
New Executive Council members include Michael Clark, Nancy Eichsteadt, Sam Gioia, Alexander Jokic and Friedrich Schuler. They will join continuing members Ted Donlan (Secretary), Karen Kennedy, Eva Nuñez (Treasurer) and Patricia Schechter.
Many, many, many, many thanks to outgoing Council Members!
Ron Narode, VP for Bargaining
Judy Patton, VP for Grievances
Bob Liebman, Councillor, Bargaining Team Member and Incoming Presiding Officer of
the Faculty Senate!
Anh Ly, Councillor (and continuing Bargaining Team member & AAUP-OR Treasurer)
Bob Schroeder, Councillor (and ongoing CORE member)
Message From Incoming President, Pam Miller
I am looking forward to my term as President of PSU-AAUP. It is not possible for me to fill Mary King's shoes. My hope is that we will all make foot prints together over the next two years and beyond. The surveys that you filled out at ratification are being collated and we will soon have data from you about next steps. The momentum that carried us through the last few months will also provide energy, ideas, and solidarity for the work and challenges that will certainly come. Stay tuned for updates, meetings, information, and please be in touch.
Message from Outgoing President, Mary King
Let me just take this opportunity to say what a pleasure and honor it's been to work with all of you, as VP for Bargaining and then as President of PSU-AAUP. I'm so proud of what we did this year, standing up for our students, university and professions - with the strong support of students, part-time faculty, staff and community members including off-campus unions, Jobs with Justice, local policy makers Michael Dembrow, Jennifer Williamson, Chip Shields, Avel Gordly, Alissa Keny-Guyer and many others.
It's not just rhetoric: we are PSU, and PSU is Portland's University. We accomplish a lot, with few resources and less recognition.
I salute you all, and am proud to be one of you!
The Ongoing Fight for the Budget and Academic Values
As expressed really well at Saturday's AAUP-Oregon statewide conference, there's no clearer expression of the University's guiding values than the budget.
We've finally settled our contract with some real gains for academic values, but the fight is by no means over.
We have to take on the challenge of advocating nationally and locally for well-supported, PUBLICLY FUNDED, ACCESSIBLE, HIGH QUALITY, PUBLIC higher education. All of us can write letters to the editor, as well as talk to our legislators and neighbors about what's happening at PSU and in Oregon.
And we have to stay engaged with the struggle at PSU to put tuition dollars, student fees and public money into a student-centered budget. Pouring millions of dollars into ill-conceived real estate ventures like the University Place Hotel, excessive Executive administrative layers and other secondary projects, while the proportion of budget dedicated to instruction falls dramatically is unconscionable, particularly in the context of skyrocketing student debt.
It's just not that hard to be more imaginative about our priorities! Iowa State is cutting administrative positions, hiring full-time faculty and improving student retention. Why not build on our place-based strengths, which already attract legions of young people to Portland every year? Why do we "invest" so much in football in a town in love with soccer, which costs far less? Why on earth would one of the country's worst-funded universities prioritize urban development, tech transfer, athletics or any other generic strategy that pays off only for the best-positioned ten percent of schools?
Figuring "Years of Service" for AP Compression Raises
For Academic Professionals, our new contract includes compression raises, In addition to cost of living increases and higher minimums, because experience and accumulated expertise have not been much recognized or rewarded for APs at PSU.
Newly negotiated compression pay increases are
2% for APs who've worked at PSU for at least 3 years,
3% for APs who've worked at PSU for at least 6 years, and
4% for APs who've worked at PSU for at least 9 years
as of July 1, 2014 when the increases go into effect.
HR will automatically figure this raise, based on your total work experience at PSU since 1998 that's at least half-time, and in any position (whether AP, fixed-term faculty, classified staff or unrepresented "administration") - with breaks of service of 5 years or less.
If you don't receive the pay increase you think you should OR if your years of service at PSU aren't captured by HR's rule of thumb, please contact PSU-AAUP Executive Director Phil Lesch (phil@psuaaup.net). Individual situations can be considered on a case-by-case basis.