UUP Oneonta
Hello Fellow UUP Members,
Please join us for “The Latest on AI and Our Work: A UUP Virtual Forum.” We’ll hold sessions on March 9 and March 16 for UUP members to hear about major recent developments in AI that impact us. You can register here, and are invited to share the flyer below with UUP colleagues:
All UUP members are welcome to attend.
In solidarity,
Alissa
The crucial role SUNY’s College of Environmental Science and Forestry plays as a national leader in protecting the environment, conducting climate change research and training the next generation of environmental leaders is the topic of a March 3 virtual panel discussion.
The discussion, titled “Anti-Science, the Environmental Crises and the Crucial Role of ESF,” will be held from noon to 1:30 p.m. via Zoom. UUP, the ESF Chapter and the National Wildlife Federation are sponsoring the event, which is free.
UUP President Fred Kowal will moderate the panel discussion. The panelists are:
Registration is required. Click HERE to register:
Dear Colleagues,
The No Kings Coalition has launched rolling rapid-response trainings leading up to the next nationwide mobilization on March 28th. As a partner, we’re sharing opportunities to plug in immediately. We had a tremendous turnout for the last No Kings Action all across New York. We’re aiming for even more people engaged in the battle to save our democracy.
Additionally, I invite you to join the next Eyes on ICE: Document and Record training on February 5th at 8 PM! This comprehensive training will provide concrete tools to protect our communities and push back against abuse by federal agents. RSVP HERE for link:
As we build toward the March 28th mass mobilization, now is the moment to train, organize, and strengthen our networks. Please share this opportunity widely and encourage others to get involved. Engage your colleagues, family, friends, and neighbors on how to be active in this fight.
We will share more information on how to connect with the March 28th actions through UUP soon. If you have additional actions or coalition resources to share, send them to Mary Becker, UUP Organizing & Outreach Administrative Assistant (mbecker@uupmail.org), and we will help amplify them.
Save the date: March 28. Join the training. Act now.
If you have ever considered raising your voice to advocate for our work, our campuses, our hospitals, and our students, now is the time. Registration is open for UUP’s Advocacy Day in February, and we need as many members to attend as possible. Strong attendance at our Advocacy Days — which we certainly had last session — along with member actions throughout the legislative session demonstrates our union power, which is critically important this year. Join Outreach Committee Co-Chairs Bekkie Bryan and Pamela Malone for Learn About Advocacy, a workshop for all members to learn why advocacy is important, what actions we take, and how to prepare. If you are new to advocacy or are a seasoned advocate, come learn how together we can make our union as strong as we can be.
This workshop is meant to answer any questions you have about UUP’s advocacy efforts—attendance at this workshop is not a requirement to register for Advocacy Day. But, it sure would make the experience more positive and impactful!
Register Here for Advocacy Day on February 24.
In Solidarity,
Fred
Hello all,
We have added an additional “UUP 101” webinar for those who have been unable to attend previous workshops. This workshop will cover UUP’s structure, who we are, who we represent, what we do, and our role in the larger labor movement.
Webinars will now be held on:
Wednesday, December 10 from 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM
Wednesday, January 7 from 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
To join the discussion, please register using the link below:
Jeri
Jeri O’Bryan-Losee, MA, MS, MSEd
United University Professions
Statewide Secretary-Treasurer
NYSUT Board of Directors, ED41
AFT PPC Member
Dear Colleagues,
Over 12 million people in the United States are struggling to make their monthly student loan payments, and millions more see economic and personal opportunities pass as they prioritize paying down their debt. Does this sound like you or someone you know?
Many of these people may qualify for free federal programs that can help reduce their monthly payments and eventually lead to student loan forgiveness, but these lifeline programs are significantly under-enrolled. In an effort to help our members get access to these programs, United University Professions and the American Federation of Teachers are proud to host a Student Debt Clinic which will provide information on how to enroll in Income-Driven Repayment plans and Public Service Loan Forgiveness.
We will be offering virtual Members Only Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Clinics on the following dates:
Wednesday, December 3, 2025 from 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM via Zoom
Wednesday, December 17, 2025 from 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM via Zoom
To attend one of the virtual Members Only Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Clinics, you must pre-register here: http://go.aft.org/StudentDebtClinicRSVP. From the “student debt clinic” drop down menu, please select the UUP clinic that you are interested in attending – they are labeled “UUP [Virtual Student Debt Clinic] [date] [time].” In the affiliate field, type in the full name of our local (United University Professions), and it will autofill after a few keystrokes.
Registration is first-come, first-serve, and we must cap attendance for a single clinic at 125 participants to ensure that we are able to provide maximum assistance to attendees. Registration will close 48 hours prior to the virtual clinic. Webinar login information will be provided prior to the clinic to all who register. [If you can’t make one of these virtual clinics, don’t worry – we’re planning on offering them every payday. If you want to help host a chapter-specific virtual clinic, please let us know!]
Managing your student loan debt is the first step in taking on the inequities which plague our system of higher education, and we look forward to seeing you at the virtual Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Clinic and working together to find a collective solution to the problems of student debt and college affordability!
Register now!
Jeri
She / Her / Hers
Jeri O’Bryan-Losee, MA, MS, MSEd
United University Professions
Statewide Secretary-Treasurer
NYSUT Board of Directors, ED41
AFT PPC Member
This survey is intended for all UUP professionals. It seeks information about your workplace support and resources available to effectively perform your job. The survey is anonymous and takes 10 to 20 minutes to complete, depending on the level of detail you provide.
To take the survey, please click the button below or visit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/UUPOneontaWORK
Friday, November 7 is a National Higher Ed Day of Action on which labor, student groups and allies will join together to demand the kind of higher education system our communities deserve. Across the country, we’re speaking out for:
In addition to gatherings at some of our chapters, UUP will be hosting a statewide virtual session on Protecting Academic Freedom in Turbulent Times. We invite all UUP members to join us to address how Academic Freedom is essential to the integrity of our institutions and to the work of everyone in UUP (not just academic employees); to learn about UUP’s contractual protections for Academic Freedom and recent legal developments in this area; and to and to discuss how union members can defend this critical right.
The session will be held from 12-1.30pm on Friday, November 7. CLICK HERE to register:
In solidarity,
Fred & Alissa
Frederick E. Kowal, Ph.D.
President
United University Professions
Alissa Karl, Ph.D.
Vice President for Academics
United University Professions
To kick off Indigenous Peoples Month, the statewide DEI committee is featuring a panel discussion about indigenous people’s history around NYS entitled “Erasing History and Stealing Futures” – featuring Melissa Parker Leonard, M. Ed, & Jeremy Dennis MFA.
Date: October 29, 2025
Time: 1:00 pm
Register HERE »
Melissa Parker Leonard is a Seneca Educator and advocate founder of the 7th Gen Cultural Resources and Jeremy Dennis is a Shinnecock Photographer Founder of Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio.
The discussion will be focused on Ely S. Parker’s life and legacy and the Shinnecock Nation’s path to federal recognition. Ely S. Parker was an engineer, U.S. Army officer, aide to General Ulysses S. Grant, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and the ancestor of Melissa Parker Leonard. In highlighting his life and legacy here, she is directly combatting current attempts to erase his contributions to the United States that are occurring under the orders of the current department of Defense/War.
Jeremy Dennis is a contemporary fine art photographer, an enrolled Tribal Member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation in Southampton, NY, and the founder and lead artist of Ma’s House & BIPOC Art Studio, Inc., a nonprofit art space and residency program on the Shinnecock Reservation dedicated to uplifting Indigenous and BIPOC artists.
His work center’s Indigenous identity, culture, and the legacies of colonial assimilation, using photography to stage cinematic, otherworldly narratives rooted in Native oral stories, history, and contemporary experience.
As part of Campus Equity Week, UUP is hosting an Oct. 29 virtual panel discussion of the independent film “Adjunct,” featuring a question-and-answer session with filmmaker and former adjunct Ron Najor.
The event starts at 5:30 p.m. Panelists are Najor, who starts in the 2024 film; Jaclyn Pittsley, UUP’s Contingent Employment Committee chair and a statewide Executive Board member; Bret Benjamin, UUP’s chief negotiator and Executive Board member; and NYSUT Labor Relations Specialist Chris Sielaff.
The panel will draw comparisons between the film and how job protections UUP successfully secured through collective bargaining agreements with the state have produced big wins for adjuncts. Panelists will also talk about the UUP’s current contract with the state benefits adjuncts.
Registration is required to view the panel discussion. Click HERE to register:
UUP members can view a free livestream of “Adjunct” at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25. That event is sponsored by Higher Education Labor United (HELU). UUP is a founding member of HELU, a national organization formed in 2021 to unite higher ed workers across the country.
Click HERE to register for the HELU free screening and for more information:
Click HERE to view the trailer from the film, or watch below:
UUP members who aren’t able to view “Adjunct” on Oct. 25 can contact their chapter officers for information about “Adjunct” watch parties and other ways and times to view the movie. Last year, UUP delegates unanimously designated the last full week of October as UUP Campus Equity Week, a national initiative that highlights working conditions and contributions of contingent faculty (part-time, adjunct, and other non-tenure-track instructors) in higher education.