NEA Regional Conference Report

By Jason Jones

The Part-Time Faculty Association was well represented at the National Education Association Regional Conference in San Diego last weekend. Elizabeth Creque, Christi Loya and I were there to hear new perspectives in the efforts to improve the quality of education for our students. The message was clear: we, as educators, need to harness the leverage of our collective voice to positively influence our communities so that investment in education continues to be a top priority. The threats we face are materializing with attacks on unions and collective bargaining as well as cuts to programs and education as a whole. With these threats come opportunities to influence the change and pedagogy as education continues to evolve, to develop measures for successful outcomes and to realize that we are the leaders in this industry. As experts, we should exert more influence in the decision making process so that we are not unduly influenced by misinformed, outside forces. An association that is well organized with involved members and community support is able to mobilize when such situations arise. This will take efforts beyond strong, centralized leadership. In other words, we all need to support our Association president and other key members. That will take personal investment beyond paying our monthly association dues; it means participation and active involvement. I was inspired by the speakers, and I hope this message encourages our membership to get more involved.

Follow up to Adjunct Project

This is the follow up article to the Adjunct posting where the adjunct is keeping track of the way that adjuncts are being treated.  This has gone viral.  He was expecting a couple of dozen participants and he's way past that.

A direct quote from his blog:

         "As of Thursday at 5PM→ [Feb 9]

• the Google doc has been viewed just under 12,000 times (in 3 days!)
• 529 schools have been added
• at any given time, between 30 and 60 people are actively collaborating on the doc
• traffic referrals: 6000 from Facebook, 800 from Twitter, 700 from Tumblr, 300 from Crooked Timber, 300 from The Chronicle, 100 from Inside HigherEd, and hundreds of other sources
• gained international attention (I have personally been contacted by professors in Canada, Australia, Spain, and England.)

Hmm . . . I think it’s safe to say we have people’s attention."

This is the blog that Josh Boldt is keeping.  If you go to his blog, there are some interesting things on it but for the actual project you need to click on the Adjunct Project link.

Here's a link to another article about the Adjunct Project. The title is "In Which the Chronicle Rests my Case" http://copy--paste.com/

Union Trainings

The University of Oregon hosts LERC, Labor Education and Research Center, both in Eugene and here in Portland. They have several union trainings coming up, which would be covered by the PTFA (but perhaps not thru Prof Dev Funds, as union training is probably not related to your teaching).

http://pages.uoregon.edu/lerc/

1. March 4-8: Arbitration Institute at Menucha Retreat Center $1,300.00 (sorry, the PTFA can't afford that!)
2. April 5th: Public Employment Relations Conference in Salem. $125 - $135.00.
3. May 4/5th: Leadership School in Portland. $75 - $80.00
4. May 16th: Health Care Bargaining Conference in Portland. Cost unknown.
Tuition assistance is available via the Katie Tate Award (an SEIU 503 union activist)

Please contact Jennifer at Pebblesmom1@gmail.com if you'd like to attend. Let's keep these union classes off the college server. Thanks!!

PTFA Quarterly eNews, Winter 2012

President's Report, by PTFA President, Jennifer Rueda:  It is with a sense of relaxation and an open heart that I begin 2012, ready to begin all the plans I’d made in my mind way back when I first became your president (a mere six months ago). Now that the 2010/2013 contract is nearly done, I’m looking forward to a renewed relationship with our members and the college administration . . . read more.

Advocacy Report, by PTFA Vice President Emeritus, Martin Kaplan:  In mid-January, the arbitrator gave her final decision denying all of the Association’s assertions made in a grievance filed on behalf of three members of the math department. All of these part-time instructors had worked at the college for a minimum of five years, without incident . . . read more. 

Spotlight on Board Member Susan McKenna, PTFA Vice President:  Since September of 2003, Susan McKenna has taught 12 hours a week, four terms per year in the Skills Development Department. She currently teaches Adult Basic Education (ABE), which includes reading, writing, and arithmetic, as Susan describes it, "for anyone who wants to improve those skills for any reason." . . . read more.

Dr. Catherine Al Mateen of Religious Studies shares some thoughts from a recent Oregon Community Colleges Association (OCCA) retreat:  The presentation on the Oregon State laws on ethics, and the clear outline of who and what these laws and revisions entail, was most helpful. This information is definitely important to share with the college community, since everyone in our college community is bound by these standards of behavior, and I do not think most people are aware of how complicated and intricate these guidelines are--and how all-encompassing . . . read more.

From Dr. Hoot's Perch:  Advice from Dr. Ivan Mancinelli-Franconi on Setting Personal Boundaries:  The concept of “Personal Boundaries” is not a new concept nor can it be attributed to one particular theorist. The idea that we have boundaries and have to honor them has been around for thousands of years. Some theorists claim that Buddha, Jesus of Nazareth, and other founders of religious movements taught in their doctrines the setting of boundaries for a healthy life . . . read more.