e-Bulletin20180403
The TAUP Nominating Committee is proud to present the nominations for TAUP elections for 2018. Election ballots will be distributed on or about April 16 and voting will close at noon on April 30. Results will be announced at the TAUP General Membership Meeting at 4 PM in a location to be announced and by e-Bulletin.
Candidate Slate
Tenure Track Constituency Council (2 positions)
Barbara Ferman (CLA:Political Science)
I have been a faculty member at Temple for 26 years, during which time I have seen many changes. Some of these have been quite positive—modernization of classrooms, research support for faculty—while others have been fairly negative—an increasing reliance on underpaid and overworked non-tenure track and adjunct faculty, increases in student tuition while the university pursues building an unnecessary football stadium, and a continued dismissal of faculty concerns from the board of trustees and top-level administrators. As a public institution, Temple can do better by its students, faculty and neighbors.
Terry Halbert (FSBM:Legal Studies)
I’ve been a TAUP member since the hard-fought times of the early nineties, and have always admired the work of my colleague Art Hochner in leading our union forward. I feel fortunate to have been represented so well for so long. Being on the Council will give me a chance to contribute in my own way. As a faculty member in Fox since 1981 I know my college well, and as the director of General Education for its first 5 years, I know something about the University too. I’m a good listener, and I promise to be a reliable and discreet conduit, hearing out fellow tenure and tenure track faculty on their concerns over the contract, and relaying those concerns to TAUP’s Executive Committee.
Bernie S. Newman (CPH:Social Work)
I have been a continuous member of the union since 1989 when I first joined the Temple faculty (with the exception of two years serving as interim chair after chairs were taken out of the union). I reinstated my membership as soon as I stepped down from being chair in the summer of 2017. TAUP has been an important part of my life in my years at Temple. For example, shortly after I arrived, I stood on the picket lines and marched in 1989-90 when the faculty went out on strike. I have served in the union advocating for adjunct faculty to become members, recruiting new members in this most recent effort and years ago served as a liaison between the union and the faculty in my role on the Faculty Senate Liaison Committee. My history of being an active union member also includes serving as one of the plaintiffs in TAUP’s efforts to obtain domestic partnership several years ago. I am a full-time tenured faculty member in the school of social work and see the need for all faculty to be represented and have voices heard. If elected, I will do my best to represent adjunct, non-tenured, pre-tenure and tenured faculty because I believe that equity should exist across the board.
Shana Goldin-Perschbacher (Boyer:Music Studies)
I work on popular music and identity, especially feminist, queer, and transgender theory and race and ethnicity studies. This is my 4th year teaching at Temple. Before that, I was employed briefly by 3 other universities in the roles of lecturer and postdoctoral fellow. In my four years here I have made friends with people working at nearly every level of faculty at Temple and throughout the region. My experience as an academic has been shaped by membership in an intellectual generation in crisis due to employment precarity and the changing nature of academia. Because of this, my colleagues’ and students’ abilities to do our jobs and thrive as human beings are especially important to me. I’d be glad to serve as a contact to discuss our work of being teachers, researchers, and artists.
Non-Tenure Track Constituency Council (3 positions)
Alex DeVaron, Boyer (Boyer:Music Studies)
First, I’m aware that 15 years ago, being an NTT at Temple was a painfully temporary position. If one did not find a tenure track position here or elsewhere, one was let go. The situation has completely changed. Now, largely because of the union, being an NTT is as valid a career option as being a tenure track appointment: it carries a good benefit package, multi-year contracts, and the possibility of promotion. Serving the union is one way I can thank it for the stability and quality of the position I currently hold.
If elected, I would be committed to exploring the following question: Can we work with the administration without descending into the rhetoric of a solidified “US vs. THEM” that currently pervades our national culture?
I’m inspired to make sure that NTT’s, especially those working in the arts, have a clean communication pipeline to the union leaders.
The labor movement in this country has a rich musical tradition. As a representative from the Boyer College, I would like to explore starting our meetings with a song!
Stan McDonald (CLA: English/First-Year Writing Program)
Since 2007 I have been teaching in the First-Year Writing, a program that relies heavily on contingent faculty to teach its classes. This experience has given me the opportunity to develop into an award-winning instructor, while building relationships with students, staff, and faculty across all ranks. Through the first few years of teaching at Temple, I was a proud dues-paying member of TAUP. By 2014, I felt the need to serve TAUP and my colleagues, and was elected to the Executive Committee for a two-year term. During that time I learned more about the role of our union at Temple, participated in the adjunct unionization effort, and received training for organizing faculty. I am running for a seat on the NTT constituency council to continue serving our union and our colleagues. To build the strength of TAUP, we need an NTT constituency council driven by a sense of mission. I hope you will consider me for another term on our constituency council.
Jeffrey Lee (CLA:Intellectual Heritage)
I have been at Temple University as a non-tenure track assistant professor since 2013; I was an adjunct here since 2010 in the Intellectual Heritage Program. I have been a union member since 2010, and I was a union member at Community College of Philadelphia from 1997-2002, where I was a tenure-track Assistant Professor. We went on strike at CCP and won a better contract for all of the full-time and part-time faculty. After earning tenure at CCP, I went to U Northern Colorado, where unions were not allowed, and working conditions were far worse than anything I have ever seen.
For those whose careers depend on their minds, time is a kind of capital with inestimable value. Therefore, I believe faculty need to have their time protected because time-poverty hurts intellectuals especially badly. So I am concerned when class sizes and teaching loads are raised without compensation and without regard for how much time it costs the faculty. (There seems to be no regard for how bigger classes and higher teaching loads hurt our students either.) I am concerned when faculty are asked to do many little jobs related to teaching without any compensation. I am also concerned with fairness and transparency regarding job assignments, promotions, and reappointments.
I would advocate for more pay and better working conditions for all of the full-time and part-time faculty, which I believe would ultimately serve our students far better.
Dan Spaeth (CST:Biology)
First, I am coming up on my 20 year anniversary at Temple in the Biology Department. This give me some historical experience with Temple and the many changes that both the University, our college and department have gone through. Second, as a lab coordinator, I interact with a variety of faculty so know their thoughts on a variety of subjects. I would like to enlarge that circle to include more faculty in both the Biology Department and beyond in CST. Third, given that Temple is still changing, those who should be primary in directing the change, Temple’s educators who are the faculty need to be informed about the changes and the union need to know what they are thinking. Indeed, because of the great variety of faculty, particularly in CST, between tenured and tenure track faculty, those actively pursuing grant funded research projects and the teaching faculty, generally non-tenure track, making sure the two groups interact or at least know what the other group is thinking is important. I look forward to this challenge.
Mary Stricker (CLA:Sociology)
I am excited to be running for the NTT Constituency Council. I have been an NTT faculty member on the teaching/instructional track in the Sociology Department since 2001. I was promoted to NTT Associate faculty member in 2008 and am currently up for promotion to NTT Professor. I have been very involved in my Department as a member of the Executive Committee, Undergraduate Committee, and Merit Committee for most of my years here and have worked hard to protect and advance the interests of my fellow NTT faculty. If I should be elected I would like to work towards creating a Certificate of Continuing Employment system as the NTT equivalent of Tenure. These certificates are currently used at CUNY and in the Univ. of California system. I would also like to create a way for NTT faculty to communicate with each other across departments and colleges so that we can work together more effectively and create a real community. I look forward to working with and for all of you. Thank you for your consideration.
Adjunct Constituency Council (7 positions)
Ben Curtright (CLA:English)
I’m an adjunct instructor in the English department at Temple, and I’ve been working at Temple in some capacity for three years now. I taught for two years as a graduate assistant; 2017-18 has been my first year working as an adjunct instructor. The transition has been eye-opening. As a TUGSA member, I made less in take-home pay than I do as an adjunct (my last contract was somewhere in the range of $17,000/yr) but felt, incredibly, more financially secure: I had a two-year contract, health care was included, and I always knew, at least a few months in advance, what classes I’d be teaching. Adjuncting is, to be frank, much scarier.
As recent direct actions, including the West Virginia teachers’ strike, the University and College Union strike in the UK, and the Illinois-Urbana Graduate Employees’ Organization, have underlined, our best vehicle for improving the lives of teachers and workers is a strong union with an activist base and a thorough understanding, born from dialectical materialism, of the essential conflict between administration and faculty. That’s why, as an adjunct, I’ve sought to get more involved in the union by visiting coworkers with Abbey Bricker and talking strategy with fellow adjuncts like Sam Allingham. I graduated too recently to have taken part in the adjuncts’ push for union membership, though I’ve already seen the benefits of our first TAUP contract. My hope is that, if elected, I can play a role in our next fights: for better wages, longer contracts, more consistent courseloads, and more comprehensive benefits.
Zoe Cohen (Tyler:Visual Studies)
I am a visual artist and Adjunct Assistant Professor at Tyler School of Art here at Temple. I also teach at Moore College of Art and have taught at The University of the Arts, and outside of higher ed and labor unions, I have years of experience as an administrator and organizer of artists, arts organizations, and educational programming.
I first taught at Temple from 2014-2015, during the campaign to unionize adjuncts. I was inspired and energized by the campaign, and wanted to learn as much as I could about organizing. I had to leave adjuncting for a year to work a full-time arts administration job when my husband was laid off. Part of my decision to return to adjuncting was that I wanted to be involved in building our contingent faculty labor movement. I became involved with United Academics of Philadelphia, helping to build membership with the UAP Organizing Committee, of which I am now the chair.
I was thrilled to be hired again at Temple, both because I love the students and the program I teach in, and because of the amazing opportunity to build power within a union that we won together. I feel that my work as an adjunct is now inextricably tied to my work as a union activist. As a current and potential future Adjunct Constituency Council member, I am committed to working together as contingent faculty to improve our working conditions, and by doing so, to hold Temple’s administration accountable to the ideals of an institution of higher education.
Melissa DeGezelle (CLA:Intellectual Heritage)
I’ve been a part of organizing activism with TAUP, but more broadly, AFT, since 2013. I’ve worked on both the Contract Campaign and Bargaining Committees. I’ve been an Adjunct Constituency Council member since 2016 and served as co-chair of the UAP Racial Justice Committee. I’ve presented at several union sponsored events, mostly regarding the subject of sexual assault on college campuses. I was there in Harrisburg on the day we won the right to form this union. The anxiety and elation and celebration were feelings akin to the birth of a baby.
I’ve taught consistently in the Intellectual Heritage department since 2010. I also teach writing and social justice courses at CCP and Jefferson University, where I was hired this past year for a temporary full-time position. The experience has given me a profound perspective.
I work as a patient advocate (counselor) at the Philadelphia Women’s Center, as a labor doula, and as an instructor of patient-centered sexual health exams. I maintain all of my side jobs because they are important, but also so that I can continue teaching. I’m skilled at holding space, listening, reflecting, and speaking out when I witness injustice. I value respect, trust, and transparency. I’m scrappy, not afraid of risk, and am completely committed to building a robust union with values that center university workers, the students and their access to real education, and the wellbeing of the surrounding community. I love Philadelphia and I love what Temple can become. This union is my family.
Ryan Eckes (CLA:English/First-Year Writing Program)
I’m a long-time adjunct in the English department who helped unionize Temple adjuncts from 2014-2015. Having spoken directly with hundreds of our colleagues over the last few years, I have a strong sense of what our union can accomplish heading into 2019. As a member of TAUP’s adjunct constituency council, I remain committed to establishing job security and better working conditions for all faculty, and helping our union build solidarity with other workers and organizations that are protecting students, educators and Philadelphia residents from the racist, anti-intellectual agenda of neoliberal plutocrats.
Jack Krick (Engineering:Electrical and Computer Engineering)
I have been teaching Technical Communication in Temple’s College of Engineering since 2011 and have worked for more than 40 years in the telecommunications and computer industries as a technician, a journalist in the computer industry trade press, and, finally, as a technical writer producing documentation in software development environments. I want better pay for adjuncts and more guidance on how to arbitrate disputes with students.
Melanie Marchand (CPH:Kinesiology):
My name is Melanie Marchand. I have been an adjunct professor at Temple since the Fall of 2014. I work in the Kinesiology Department KPAP Program and am currently teaching a course entitled Fitness for Life, 2 sections. I also teach Cardiovascular Fitness and Weight Training.
I am a native of New Orleans, LA but have been living in Philadelphia for almost 26 years. I have an undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Tulane University (1984) and an MBA from the Wharton Business School (1991). I worked in Corporate America for a total of 13 years before resigning to pursue my passion which is Health and Fitness. I worked as a Process/Efficiency Engineer for 5 years before acquiring an MBA. Upon my return to the Corporate world, I worked as a Business Analyst, Product Manager, Technical Sales Rep and Marketing Manager. I worked for Union Carbide Corporation and Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
Upon resigning, I launched my own personal training business, Sisters in Shape, Inc. Six years later, I opened my own 5000 sq ft Fitness Center. A year later, I opened a healthy foods café a few feet away from the gym in the same building.
I am interested in serving on the Adjunct Constituency Council because of my personal experience and the desire to help others who may find themselves being unfairly treated. The union has been extremely supportive of me and there is no way I would have been able to accomplish what has occurred thus far without them.
Canan Tanir (CLA:Gender Studies and Women’s Studies)
I have been teaching as an adjunct for the last 4 years. During this time, I have come to witness the difficult conditions adjunct faculty face as precarious labor in the business model of higher education. I have experienced the day-to-day challenges that these conditions entail. I strongly believe that the work we do as part-time instructors deserves better recognition, higher respect, and equity, as it is this significant work that the university relies on. As a potential member of ACC, I intend to voice our rights for a decent livelihood that we all deserve, as well as promoting the interests of all members of TAUP.
