Twitter icon
Facebook icon
RSS icon
YouTube icon

calendar.png

UC-AFT Member Spotlight Archive

Member Spotlight Archive

Member Spotlight: John Rundin--Political Power Broker (V.P. for Legislation), Classicist, Cyclist and Reader

Raised in Chicago, where he got a B.A. in Greek Literature at the University of Illinois at Chicago, John Rundin went on to earn a Ph.D. in Classics at the University of California, Berkeley. He has published on Greek religion, Greek literature, and Latin literature. After he got his Ph.D., he hopscotched across the country from teaching position to teaching position at, among other places, the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the University of California, Los Angeles, till, in 2005, he settled into a long-term position at the University of California, Davis.

UC-AFT Member Spotlight--Raj Singh: Management Lecturer, Engineer and Democratic Party Delegate

Dr. Raj Singh teaches in the School of Business Administration at UCR, where he recently received the Golden Apple Award for Teaching Excellence. He holds several advanced degrees from universities in India and the U.S., including a Ph.D. in Policy Planning and Administration from USC. Raj teaches courses in organizational behavior, introduction to business, human resource management and leadership development. He has co-authored a textbook in Crime Analysis, and has published several articles and reviewed and edited journals in the field of management.

UC-AFT Member Spotlight: Mitchell Brown--UCI Research Librarian, Artist and UC-AFT Leader

Mitchell Brown is UCI’s Research Librarian for Chemistry, Earth System Science and Russian Studies.

UC-AFT Member Spotlight: Ruth Charloff--UCR Music Lecturer and Conductor

Ruth Charloff is a lecturer in the Department of Music at UCR, where she conducts the UCR Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, and UCR Chamber Singers. She teaches instrumental and choral conducting, instrumentation, 20th-century music history, and Introduction to Western Music. Dr.

UC-AFT Member Spotlight--Ben Harder: Writing Lecturer and Unit 18 Chief Negotiator

One of the first things Ben Harder did upon joining UC-AFT was support his fellow lecturers on the picket line as a strike captain during our 2003 strike.  Ben went on to serve in several local and statewide elected positions and now he’s been appointed as the Unit 18 Chief Negotiator.  Starting union work with a strike may be an uncommon experience within UC-AFT, but Ben Harder is an uncommon individual.  Patient, detail oriented, smart and funny, Ben has the traits of a great negotiator. 

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.

UC-AFT Member Spotlight- Karen LeCocq: Artist, Author, Zen Practitioner, Mountain Woman and Local President at UC Merced

Karen LeCocq is an accomplished artist, author and art teacher with roots and tradition in feminism and Zen philosophy. She lives in the Sierra Nevada mountains and has a lovely commute down to UC Merced, where she’s been teaching art since the campus opened in 2005.  Ms. LeCocq was recently elected President of UC-AFT Local 6366.

UC-AFT Member Spotlight: Mike Rotkin-Teacher, Activist, Santa Cruz Pol, UC-AFT Leader

Union folks have a saying, “You are the U in Union” or something like that…Well, Mike Rotkin is just about every letter in UC-AFT.  Mike was involved in the original organizing effort for a senate faculty union in the late 70’s. He was around when UC-AFT negotiated it’s first contract for non-senate faculty, and in the decades since, Mike has been president, VP of organizing, legislation and grievances, local president and steward, and chief negotiator for six Unit 18 contracts and two Unit 17 contracts. Mike is a walking archive of UC-AFT knowledge, trivia and lore.

UC-AFT Member Spotlight: Andrew Tonkovich- Teacher, Activist and Ambassador of the Literary Arts

Andrew Tonkovich is a man about the town when it comes to reading, writing, teaching, talking and blogging about books and writing in the L.A. area. Mr.

UC-AFT Member Spotlight- Mike Smith, UCSD Map Librarian-- Organizing the Reorg

Mike Smith has been a map librarian for almost twenty years, the last seven of which he’s spent at UCSD where he’s also the GIS coordinator and the state and local documents librarian.

Member Spotlight: Goetz Wolff- UC-AFT Local President at UCLA, Urban Planning Lecturer, and Activist Labor Researcher

When Goetz Wolff was asked by the Board to step into the President position for the UC-AFT Local at UCLA he was reluctant to take on that responsibility because he was very busy with teaching and mentoring students in Urban Planning, as well as consulting for unions.  But in light of his academic work focusing on economic justice, and his six-year stint as the Director of Research at the Los Angeles County Labor Federation, Goetz admits that he felt a sense of duty to invest within in his own union.  He accepted the position and then was elected President at the next membership meeting.

UC-AFT Member Spotlight- Joi Barrios, Pre-Six Lecturer, Author, Poet and UC-AFT Local President at UCB

During the AFSCME strike on November 20, Joi Barrios spoke in front of a plaza full of students and workers at UCB. With a steady rain falling, her words on solidarity and justice ignited the crowd, “Together, we can fight intimidation in the workplace. Together, we can fight for workers’ rights and workers’ safety.

UC-AFT Member Spotlight Archive--Roxi Power: Poet, Interventionist!

Roxi Power is a poet, performer and lecturer in the Writing Program at UC Santa Cruz.

UC-AFT Member Spotlight--Sasha Abramsky: The American Way of Poverty

Author of The American Way of Poverty, Nation Books September 2013