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University Council-AFT Insider August 2014

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University Council-AFT Insider
August 4, 2014
 

Announcement:
UC-AFT Field Representative, Honora St.Clair, formerly Honora Keller, is transferring from San Diego to Riverside.  She will continue to work half time at Irvine in addition to Riverside.  UC-AFT thanks Honora for her great work in San Diego and welcomes her to Local 1966 in Riverside.

In this issue:

·       Ten Ways UC Faculty Can Combat Contingency and Support Lecturers Now

·       Power, Income Inequality and Democracy in the UC Workplace

·       UC-AFT in the Library—The Role of the Union in Peer Review and Professional Status

·       UC-AFT Member Spotlight- Carole Paul UCSB Art Historian, Lecturer and…Professor?

Ten Ways UC Faculty Can Combat Contingency and Support Lecturers Now
A recent two-part post on Remaking the University examines the reasons why senate faculty are complicit in the crisis of contingency in higher ed.  The author suggests that departments stop hiring adjunct faculty as a solution.  It’s clear that it will take a bold effort and some serious soul (and funding) searching on the part of senate faculty to reverse the trend of hiring off the tenure track. Yet, there are several easy ways that UC faculty can mitigate the impacts of contingency on lecturers and students right now. Here’s a shareable graphic showing ten ways UC faculty can combat contingency and support their lecturer colleagues. Have something to say about this?  Add to the conversation on Twitter or Facebook: @ucaft  #UCDemocracy

Power, Income Inequality and Democracy in the Workplace
In this post on Changing Universities, UC-AFT President Bob Samuels connects the increase in the number of administrators and faculty making over $200,000 with the growth in the number of non-tenure track faculty positions at UC.  Power within the UC system is being consolidated within the ranks of highly paid administrators, while the numbers of senate faculty dwindle relative to non-senate faculty.  By democratizing our departments and libraries, UC-AFT’s YouSee (UC) Democracy? campaign is also working to rebalance power within the UC system.

UC-AFT in the Library—The Role of the Union in Peer Review and Professional Status
As UC-AFT members in the library push forward with You See (UC) Democracy?, we are challenging some existing notions about the role of the union with respect to peer review.  For decades, LAUC has been the organization responsible for administering the peer review process, and that isn’t going to change.  What may be changing on some campuses is the extent of union involvement in supporting librarians who are preparing for, or proceeding through the peer review process.  UC-AFT is also beginning to take a larger role in promoting and supporting the professional work of librarians.  For more on this topic, please read this brief article on the UC-AFT website.

UC-AFT Member Spotlight--Carole Paul: Art Historian, Lecturer and…Professor?
Carole Paul is an accomplished lecturer in the Department of the History of Art and Architecture at UCSB, where she has taught since 1994.  In addition to her highly regarded teaching, she has an exceptional research and publication record with two recently published books, and a current fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities to complete a new book.  Carole’s professional record is at least comparable to that of Senate faculty in her field, yet the UCSB Administration has recently denied her promotion to a ladder position.  Her case may be a classic example of the contingent trap, where once hired as a lecturer it becomes even more difficult to get hired into the ladder ranks.  Her case also raises serious questions about various other barriers that experienced lecturers with proven records of teaching, service and publication may face as candidates for ladder faculty positions.

Please take a moment to read our interview with Carole to learn more about her teaching, her research and her struggle to get the professional recognition she so deserves from the UCSB administration.

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The University Council – American Federation of Teachers is an affiliate of the California Federation of Teachers, the American Federation of Teachers and the AFL-CIO.