Jaclyn Pittsley for President –
If you continue to support me as your Chapter President, I will continue to advocate for your terms and conditions of employment during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. I will fight to keep our part-time members employed. I will advocate for the most liberal interpretation possible of the Telecommuting MOA and for its extension as far as necessary to keep our members safe. I will continue to advocate for the equitable implementation of the Tenure Clock MOA. I have worked hard with members of Management and my own invaluable Executive Board to advocate for individual members, and to remember the needs, concerns, stress, and victories of those who deliver the education our students need. I hope that every member on campus should have an equal voice in driving our union forward. I would like to see unprecedented activism in UUP by members who’ve been engaged in the past and new members who want to engage. UUP must protect continuing and permanent appointment as a deserved status; UUP must continue to fight until we achieve full parity and equity for contingent faculty. UUP must join together with other unions to protect our rights and privileges as the educators of the guardians of democracy, education, family, and community. I will fight to preserve union jobs. I have learned a great deal about leading our chapter bargaining unit, and I want to continue to learn about your needs as your champion while we continue to be the guiding hand of public higher education.
Jennifer Drake for Vice President for Professionals
The last time I asked you to support my candidacy for Cortland Chapter Vice President for Professionals, we were wrapping up a difficult and prolonged round of statewide contract negotiations, and trying to assess the threat posed by the Janus decision and similar anti-union legislation. It seemed we were facing unprecedented threats to our rights as workers and our terms and conditions of employment. At that time, I pledged to serve you, stand up for you, and assist you in preserving those rights, terms, and conditions if you chose me as your VPP. I hope that I have met those expectations.
Our world and our workplace have changed in ways unimaginable to us then, and in hindsight those seem like flush times: meeting in person in large groups and small, going about the work of the university and the union. Now, many professionals spend their work days at home, isolated from colleagues, or on the front lines on campus, worrying about their health and their loved ones, wondering what the future holds.
As our work lives and workloads continue to change in fundamental and disturbing ways, I remain committed to making sure your concerns are heard and addressed. Through virtual meetings with groups and individuals, and tools like the UUP professionals’ survey, and in cooperation with other chapter leaders, I continue to advocate for Cortland professionals here on campus and statewide.
Once again, I ask for your trust, and your vote, so that I can continue to do this work.
Daniel Harms for Vice President for Academics
I’m Dan Harms, your current Vice President for Academics, and I’m asking for your support in the next election.
We’ve all gone through some tough times, and it’s been difficult for all of us as the science and the rules shift and shift again. As an officer, I have had to keep in touch with our members, my fellow officers, the administration, unionists at other campuses, and statewide officers as we navigate our way through the present situation together.
This past summer, I joined my fellow officers in advocating to the administration for regular on-campus testing. I have worked to implement the memorandum on personnel actions, geared to ensure that these past semesters do not have long-term impacts on the careers of our tenure-track scholars. Most recently, I have provided feedback for a workload survey for academics that you should see soon, for helping us to have discussions with management on how this pandemic is impacting your jobs. I have also served on the Executive Board and the statewide Grievance Committee, as well as an area activist for the library and liaison to the SUNY Librarians Association.
I’m always happy to speak with members and work with them to find solutions. These are challenging times, so we can’t help everyone all of the time, but some creativity and problem-solving can help us through many situations.
I hope to see all of you in person again soon.
Jo Schaffer for Officer for Retirees and Professional Delegate
Election Statement for the position of Officer for Retirees
I am asking for your vote for the chapter position of Officer for Retirees. After five years as the Chair of the Statewide UUP committee for Retiree Affairs, decades of UUP service as a former chapter President, chapter VP for Professionals and years as statewide Membership Development Officer and statewide Executive Board member, I bring loads of experience to the position.
I am now back home, in Cortland, and ready to use my years of experience on behalf of our Retirees and, as we say, all of you as our retirees-in-training. That expression refers to our active Cortland union members for whom we run frequent Pre-Retirement Workshops so they can feel confident and comfortable in the next phase of their professional careers.
Thank you for your consideration. I am always available to answer any questions you might have.
I know the ropes, the ins and outs, of getting the right and proper information to all our union members for benefits now and in the future as retirees.
Statement for Professional Delegate
As an active UUP’er, I would really like to continue my participation as a Professional delegate to our union’s policy making body, the Delegate Assembly.
For years, I have been in the forefront of the battle to maintain the protection of Professionals’ rights and privileges so hard won. I have been for long years part of the original battle to achieve reasonable Professional evaluation and promotion procedures. We all know that there is much more to do to gain the professional respect and career advances you all deserve.
I ask for your vote to be your Professional Delegate to the UUP Delegate Assembly. Thank you.
Kevin Pristash for Treasurer and Professional Delegate
As a long time active member of UUP, I would like to continue my participation in our union as your chapter treasurer and also continue as a Professional delegate at our annual Delegate Assemblies where our union’s policies are debated and created.
For many years I have worked on our campus policies regarding DSI and professional evaluation and promotion. I have also served two terms already as chapter treasurer and also work on the statewide finance committee, so I have the experience necessary to keep a close eye on how your hard earned union dues are being spent.
I ask both for your vote for chapter treasurer AND your vote for me to continue as a voting Professional delegate.
Rebecca Bryan for Academic Delegate
Hello, my name is Bekkie Bryan and I have been serving as a UUP Delegate and affiliate Delegate to NYSUT and AFT for the last 5 years and would be honored to continue to do so. I have also been re-elected to the Statewide Executive Board. As a Delegate and Executive Board Member I serve on Teacher Education, the Outreach, and the Membership committees. I also serve on the Joint Labor Management committees for the Drescher Awards and as co-chair for the Campus Grants. I was recently nominated and accepted to be part of the NYSUT Women’s Committee as well. I do a lot for our Union, because my passion lies within social justice, and the common good, of which I believe higher education and an organized workforce are. I also serve to be part of the solution to the many issues we face.
At Cortland, I am the Membership Development Officer and Political Action Coordinator. I have and will continue to advocate for the funding we need not only due to COVID, but due to years of austerity that have left our institutions underfunded and for policies that protect the goals of our institution, our labor, and for social, environmental and economic justice. I would love to continue to serve as a delegate and would appreciate your vote. If you would like to know more about me or have questions about any of the work our union is doing or to get involved please contact me. Please vote.
Christa Chatfield for Academic Delegate
I nominate myself for a second term as an Academic Delegate because I believe strongly in the united and collective voice that we have through UUP. The pandemic crisis has hampered my full ability to participate in Delegate Assemblies, which I would like an opportunity to attend in-person within my next term, to help shape and drive UUP policy. This crisis has interrupted our ability to gather and really connect over our shared labor in educating and shaping the lives of our students, and I would like the opportunity to make those connections once in-person meetings can resume safely. Our shared labor is powerful, in the lives of our students but also in our own lives. I want to continue to serve in UUP as a representative who honors and defends your labor and your rights in the classroom, on campus, and in our shared community.
Justin Neretich for Professional Delegate or At-Large
I humbly announce my intention for candidacy for either a Professional Delegate seat or the At-Large Professional Chapter Executive Board Representative for United University Professions, Cortland Chapter. I am completing my third consecutive year serving as a Residence Hall Director here at SUNY Cortland, am an alumnus of the undergraduate History/Social Studies Teaching program, and a stout advocate for disruption of current higher education practices in the United States. I seek the opportunity to serve my colleagues and peers and get to the bottom of why our Union and the State University of New York administration seem to make many decisions in times of crisis from a financial and reactive standpoint, rather than investing time and resources into being proactive and prepared to sacrifice in order to support both moral and ethical obligations we stand for as an entity of public education. For too long has complacency at tables of power led to increased responsibilities, stress and confusion at all levels for university professionals. There is an extreme lack of transparency between the obligations of a particular institution and the obligations of the State University administration. I hope that by serving in this role, I can begin to find solutions to these issues as well as address ongoing challenges that many of my peers and even mentors may be facing. The task of holding the state and our leaders accountable can be daunting, but I plan to continue to strengthen our community and advocate for our rights and the students.
Christopher Badurek for Academic Delegate
I ask for your support in serving as an Academic Delegate for our campus. As University Faculty Senate Alternate Senator, I have been participating in SUNY wide discussions on how the comprehensive colleges such as ours can best adapt to the challenges of the pandemic while retaining our core focus on liberal arts education. I appreciate the value of inviting participation from all members to share their concerns and ideas for moving ahead together. As a new parent, I am also concerned with the health and well-being of the children, parents, and caregivers in our academic community who are balancing workload and family. My own parents were New York State employees and union members for over 30 years and I would be proud to represent our collective interests during this challenging time.
Rhiannon M. Maton for Academic Delegate
My name is Rhiannon Maton, and I seek to serve the SUNY Cortland community as an Academic Delegate. I am currently in my fourth year as an assistant professor in the School of Education’s Foundations and Social Advocacy department and am a member of UUP’s statewide Member Action Coalition (MAC), which embraces member-driven organizing to resist continued austerity affecting the SUNY system. I have a long history of union involvement, both within unions and as a union researcher. As a high school teacher, I served as a building representative in the Toronto chapter of Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation for several years. I assisted Philadelphia’s Caucus of Working Educators, part of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers, in a range of member education and organizing drives. And I serve as the elected Secretary/Treasurer for the Teachers Work/Teachers Unions Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. My research looks at how K-12 teachers unions are taking frontline stances to advocate for common good issues affecting union members and the public broadly.
As an Academic Delegate for our campus, I will draw upon these experiences in order to advocate for members’ economic security, social justice needs, and to resist the ongoing degradation caused by austerity-driven neoliberalist economic policy. I will advocate for the safety of our members in the context of Covid-19 and continue to push UUP toward enhanced transparency with our membership, and to stand strong in the fight for fair funding for the SUNY public education system.
Kristine Newhall for Academic Delegate
I have been a dues-paying member of a union from the time I was a graduate student at the University of Iowa, through a decade as contingent faculty in Massachusetts, and now as a faculty member in Kinesiology. Up until this past year, however, my involvement has been more passive. I paid my dues and supported the union’s effort by signing what needed to be signed and sending the occasional email.
The last round of protracted contract negotiations brought me further into the operations of UUP. While I was pleased that a contract was negotiated, it was a less-than-ideal outcome; one that sacrificed the needs of contingent faculty members and was negotiated with limited member input. Because of ongoing austerity, we have not even seen the raises which the state is contractually obligated to provide.
I believe unions are one of the last forms of effective, change-making organizing. In addition to advocating for the needs of members and resisting the corporatization of the American educational system, the UUP can create social change. I am heartened by the recent measure passed by the Delegate Assembly that pressures TIAA to divest from fossil fuels. As a delegate, I will advocate for a more democratic, member-driven union that will hear and act on the concerns of all its members.
David Ritchie for Academic Delegate
Hi, for those who don’t know me, I’m a retired SUNY Cortland librarian who continues to be active in UUP and on social justice issues in Cortland and Ithaca since retirement. I’m enthusiastically supportive of UUP’s Legislative Agenda for 2021, which I see as one of only a few initiatives addressing the underfunding of SUNY, a chronic problem of long standing.
I am running to be an Academic Delegate, to continue to participate in the active functioning of the Cortland Chapter through its Executive Board, campus and legislative initiatives, and state-wide at the bi-annual UUP Delegate Assemblies.
I have some past successful experience in the Chapter as Secretary, Membership Development Committee Chair, and Vice-President for Academics. In the wider community, I’m a contributing member of the board of Finger Lakes Labor-Religion Coalition and the local chapter of Amnesty International, and a long-time volunteer tax preparer for lower-income folks through the IRS’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program.
Thanks for your vote. Dave
Michelina Gibbons for Professional Delegate
As an active UUP member, I would like to become more involved in the operations of the union and to represent other members, such as myself. Please accept my intention for candidacy for a Professional Delegate seat of the Cortland Chapter. I am staring my 22nd year on campus, currently serving as the Employer Relations and Recruiting Coordinator in Career Services. I have worked on many campus committees, including EAP, the Anti-Racism Task Force sub-committee and ACE Access to College Education. I would like to opportunity to help my fellow colleagues with issues that exist in higher education including: pay equity, yearly evaluations and permanent appointment. During these trying times with New York State and our budget, we will need the union more than ever to maintain a fair and stable work environment. As a Professional Delegate, I hope to represent union members and build on the foundation that our Cortland Chapter has already established. I ask for your vote as a Professional Delegate in the Cortland Chapter of UUP. Thank you.
Henry Steck for Academic Delegate
Dear UUP Members and Colleagues,
I am a candidate for Cortland’s UUP Executive Board and as a Cortland Delegate to UUP’s Delegate Assembly. I am pleased to submit my name for continuing my service to our UUP chapter and to UUP statewide.
My Background: I have been a UUP activist since the late 1980s. During my service, our chapter has contributed to the well-being of our academic and professional faculty and staff, the excellence of our college, and to UUP statewide. I have worked to improve the terms and conditions of our employment, the excellence of our college and the academic union movement.
My Record: Cortland UUP President, Cortland Executive Board member and Academic Vice-President, Delegate to UUP’s Delegate Assembly, Retiree Representative, statewide UUP Vice-President and various UUP committees. As a retiree, I have continued my commitment to UUP on Cortland’s Executive Board and as a Delegate.
My Commitment to Cortland, SUNY and UUP: As we face difficult times – whether COVID, tight economic conditions, changing personnel policies or tough contract negotiations – I will be a part of our UUP struggle to improve Cortland and — above all — the terms and conditions of our academic and professional colleagues as we face uncertain political times both statewide and nationally.
Yes — I am on call to reach out to colleagues whenever issues arise. I trust I have won your confidence and your vote. I look forward to continuing to working for and with Cortland and UUP.
Bekeh Ukelina for Academic Delegate
I am Bekeh Ukelina, an Associate Professor of History. I am currently an elected delegate and I am asking for your vote as a delegate. More than ever, our union needs strong representation. If you elect me, I’ll fight for the things that make our work environment fair and just and for the state to provide a robust financial support for higher education.
You can count on me to push our union toward more grassroots outreach efforts, so that decisions are more bottom up and faculty concerns are heard. You can count on me to strongly speak for things that are central to our members welfare and concerns such as smaller class sizes, affordable healthcare, faculty research funding, good retirement benefits, generous child and family benefits, worker protections, higher taxation of corporations and millionaires to fund NY education and healthcare.
Gregg Weatherby for Officer for Contingents, At-Large Academic Chapter Executive Board Representative, and Academic Delegate
It has been my pleasure to serve as a delegate for many years, and I hope I can continue to have your support. I have a history of being an activist, and in 2015 I was received the Fayez Samuel Award for Courageous Service by Part-Time Academic and Professional Faculty. I will continue to advocate for contingent faculty at every opportunity. There is much to be done: salaries need to be raised, contract options need to be lengthened, due process rights need to be ensured, and academic freedom needs to be strengthened. I have also served the chapter as Disability Rights Officer this past election cycle. I believe I can be of much more service to the Union now that I have retired. Thank you for your vote. I look forward to continuing activism.
