NATIONAL CENTER
for the S tudy of C ollective B argaining in 
H igher E ducation and the P rofessions
E-Note
  
 
   
 
Follow us on Twitter @HigherEd_CB
October 2016
The National Center E-Note is a monthly electronic newsletter containing research and analysis relevant to unionization and collective bargaining in higher education and the professions.
  
1.      2017 Conference Keynote Speaker: NLRB Chair Mark G. Pearce

 
10.   Seattle University: SEIU Certified to Represent Adjunct Unit; University to
        Challenge NLRB's Assertion of Jurisdiction

11.   State College of Florida Board of Trustees: FT Faculty Vote to Unionize




March 26-28, 2017 
The National Center's 44th Annual Conference at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City
A1
2017 Conference Keynote Speaker: NLRB Chairman Mark G. Pearce
The National Center is pleased to announce that NLRB Chairman Mark G. Pearce will be the keynote speaker at our 2017 annual conference.

Mark G. Pearce was named NLRB Chairman by President Barack Obama on August 27, 2011. Mr. Pearce was sworn in as a Board Member on April 07, 2010, following his recess appointment, and was confirmed by the Senate on June 22, 2010. On August 23, 2013 he was sworn in for a second term that expires on August 27, 2018. Chairman Pearce was a founding partner of the Buffalo, New York law firm of Creighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux, where he practiced union and plaintiff side labor and employment law in courts and before administrative agencies.

Prior to his entry into private practice he was an attorney and District Trial Specialist in the NLRB's Buffalo NY Regional office. By appointment of the Governor of the State of New York, Mr. Pearce served on several commissions as well as the New York State Industrial Board of Appeals, where he ruled on appeals of wage and hour decisions of the NYS Department of Labor. He has taught at Cornell University's School of Industrial Labor Relations Extension, and is a Fellow in the College of Labor and Employment Lawyers. Chairman Pearce received his Juris Doctor from the University at Buffalo Law School of the State University of New York, and his Bachelors degree from Cornell University. 
  A2
Confirmed Panels and Workshops for the 2017 Annual Conference

Plenary Session: Graduate Student Employees: Collective Bargaining After the NLRB's Columbia University Decision  with Joseph W., Ambash, Fisher & Phillips, LLP, Daniel Julius, Senior Vice-President and Provost, New Jersey City University, Julie Kushner, UAW Region 9A Director, and Wilma Liebman, Visiting Scholar, Rutgers University and Former NLRB Chairman.

NLRB 101: A Prima on National Labor Relations Board Procedures  with Karen P. Fernbach, NLRB, Regional Director, Region 2, Kathy Drew King, NLRB Region Director, Region 29, John Walsh, NLRB Regional Director, Region 1,  and moderator James O. Castagnera, Associate Provost and Legal Counsel for Academic Affairs, Rider University.  

The Impact of Anti-Intellectualism on the State of Higher Education  with Lynn Pasquerella, President, Association of American Colleges and Universities, Henry Reichman, AAUP Vice President,  and moderator Frederick Schaffer, General Counsel and Senior Vice Chancellor for Legal Affairs, City University of New York (panel in formation).  

Lincoln and Labor with Harold Holzer, Jonathan F. Fanton Director, Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute, Hunter College, Edna G. Medford, Chair, Howard University Department of History, and James Oakes, Distinguished Professor, CUNY Graduate Center.  

Grievance Handling and Problem Solving with Faculty and Librarians  with Eve Weinbaum, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Associate Professor, Labor Center & Sociology Department  &  Brandi Perri, Graduate Student, University of Massachusetts Amherst Sociology Department with moderator Arlene King-Berry, Faculty Senate Chair, University of the District of Columbia.    

Department Chairs' Perceptions of Union Membership on Academic Human Resource Decision Making  with  Leigh Settlemoir Dzwik, Assistant Dean, Oakland University School of Education and Human Services with moderator  Arlene King-Berry, Faculty Senate Chair, University of the District of Columbia. 
 
Shared Governance and Collective Bargaining: The Line Between with Rene Castro, Assistant Vice Chancellor, Employee and Labor Relations, California State University System, Michael Mauer, Senior Labor Advisor, AAUP Department of Organizing and Services, Christine Miller, Chair, Academic Senate of California State University, and moderator Jeffrey Cross, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Eastern Illinois University.

Professional Development for Tenure-Track and Adjunct Faculty with Gail Mellow, President, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY and author of Taking College Teaching Seriously, Pedagogy Matters!: Fostering Student Success Through Faculty-Centered Practice Improvement (panel in formation)

Contingent Faculty Participation in Shared Governance  with John D. Vander Weg Associate Provost for Academic Personnel Wayne State University, Thomas Anderson, Vice President and lead negotiator, UPTF-AFT, Wayne State University, Karen Thompson, Part-Time Lecturer at Rutgers University and Senator for New Brunswick Part-Time Lecturers, and Carl Levine, Levy Ratner, P.C.

The Economics and Effect of College Sports on Campus with Gilbert M. Gaul, author of Billion-Dollar Ball, Saranna Thornton, Professor of Economics, Hampden-Sydney College, and moderator Brad Wolverton, Senior Writer, The Chronicle of Higher Education (panel in formation)

The Role of Endowments in Financing Higher Education  with Kenneth Redd, Director, Research and Policy Analysis, NACUBO, Elizabeth Parisian, Assistant Director, Research and Strategic Initiatives, AFT, and moderator Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, Reporter, The Washington Post (panel in formation)

Student Debt: We Pay for What We Value with George A. Davison, Federation of Post-Secondary Educators of B.C. and National Union of the Canadian Association of University Teachers President, Stephen Katsinas, Director and Professor, University of Alabama Education Policy Center, and moderator Martha J. Kanter, Executive Director, Civic Nation (panel in formation)

Sunday March 26, 2017 Workshops
Workshop Training for Administrators on Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations with Nicholas DiGiovanni, Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP, Karen R. Stubaus, Vice President, Academic Affairs & Administration, Rutgers University, and Margaret E. Winters, Wayne State University. 

Workshop Training on Unionization and Labor Relations for Faculty and Union Representatives with  David Cecil, United Academics, AFT-AAUP Executive Director, University of Oregon Deborah Williams, NEA Faculty Association President and Lead Negotiator, Johnson County Community College. (workshop in formation)  

Workshop Training on Financial Data Analysis  with Howard Bunsis, Chair, AAUP Collective Bargaining Congress, Professor, Accounting, Eastern Michigan. University (workshop in formation)
A3
2016 National Center Conference Proceedings Now Available
The National Center is pleased to announce that the 2016 Conference Proceedings are now available on-line.  We thank the Booth Library staff at Eastern Illinois University for their work in making the conference proceedings available. 
A4
Faculty Strike at Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education
On October 19, 2016, thousands of faculty and coaches at the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), represented by the Association of Pennsylvania  State College and University Faculties (APSCUF), went out on strike throughout the university system.

The strike constitutes the largest faculty strikes in many years in higher education, and the first at PASSHE.  In the past year, faculty union members at two other major university systems voted to authorize strikes but those strikes were averted after the parties were able to settle upon the terms of successor agreements.  In 2016, there have also been faculty strikes at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, City College of San Francisco, and Green River College.
A5
Saint Xavier University: NEA Certified to Represent Adjunct Unit
St. Xaiver University,  NLRB Case No. 13-RC-022025

On September 29, 2016, the NLRB certified NEA as the exclusive representative of a bargaining unit of approximately 122 non-tenure track faculty at Saint Xavier University following a representation election.  The faculty voted in 29-25 in favor of union representation.  The recent certification took place over five years after the representation petition was filed.  The delay was due to the school's unsuccessful litigated efforts to persuade the NLRB to decline jurisdiction over the question of representation because the school is religiously affiliated.

The following is the composition of the newly certified faculty unit:

Included: All part-time faculty employed by the Employer at its campuses presently located at 3700 West 103rd Street, Chicago, Illinois and 18230 Orland Parkway, Orland Park, Illinois, who teach at least three credit hours per semester.

Excluded: All part-time faculty while teaching coursework in the Pastoral Ministry Institute and members in the School of Nursing, all part-time faculty teaching in the Department of Religious Studies, all music tutors, all student supervisors in the School of Education, independent contractors, confidential employees and managers, office clerical employees and guards, professional employees and supervisors as defined in the Act.
 
A6
Marist College: New Election Scheduled for Adjunct Faculty Unit
Marist College,  NLRB Case No. 03-RC-127374

Following the NLRB Board's August 23, 2016 decision affirming the setting aside of the results of the 2014 representation election among approximately 500 Marist College adjuncts, a new election has been scheduled.  The mail ballots are scheduled to be counted on October 31, 2016 at the NLRB's Region 3 Resident Office in Albany.  The issue in the electon is whether the faculty want SEIU representation for purposes of collective bargaining.

The following is the composition of the at-issue faculty unit:  

Included: All adjunct faculty employed by the Employer who teach undergraduate and/or graduate level courses, who teach in the classroom and/or online, and who teach courses at either the Employer's Poughkeepsie, New York campus or its Fishkill, New York campus, and Student Teaching Supervisors; who were employed by the Employer during the payroll period ending September 15, 2016.

Excluded: All other faculty, tenured and tenure eligible faculty, full-time faculty and faculty who only teach in the classroom at locations other than the Poughkeepsie Campus or the Fishkill Campus, administrators, coaches, librarians, directors, managers, guards, supervisors and professional employees as defined in the Act, and all other employees whether or not they have teaching responsibilities.
A7
Univ. of Minnesota: SEIU Petition for Twin Cities Unit Moves Forward  
University of Minnesota, Unit 8, BMS Case No. 16PCE0644

Following a lengthy hearing, the Minnesota Bureau of Mediation Services Commissioner Josh Tilson issued a decision on September 20, 2016 concerning the composition of a faculty unit at the University of Minnesota's Twin Cities Campus that SEIU seeks to represent. 

The Minnesota public sector collective bargaining statute defines the composition of bargaining units at the University of Minnesota.  Among the bargaining units are four units for instructional staff, graduate assistants, and academic, professional and administrative staff.  The statute concerning the Twins Cities faculty unit states:

(8) The Twin Cities Instructional Unit consists of the positions of all instructional employees with the rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, including research associate or instructor, including research fellow, located on the Twin Cities campuses.

The issue determined by Commissioner Tilsen issued was whether the following titles belonged in the Twin Cities Institutional Unit: Assistant Extension Educator, Assistant Extension Professor, Associate Extension Educator, Associate Extension Professor, Extension Educator, Extension Professor, Lecturer, Teaching Specialist, Senior Lecturer and Senior Teaching Specialist.  

In his decision, Commissioner Tilsen concluded that the classifications of Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Teaching Specialist, and Senior Specialist belonged in the unit because they are located on the Twin Cities Campus.  The other titles were excluded because a majority of the employees in each title are not located on the Twin Cities Campus. 

Unless the administrative decision is successfully challenged in court, an election will be scheduled concerning the following unit at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities campus:

The Twin Cities Instructional Unit consists of the positions of all instructional employees with the rank of professor, associate professor, assistant professor, including research associate or instructor, including research fellow, located on the Twin Cities Campus: Tenure Track: Professors, Regents Professors, Associate Professors, Assistant Professor; Non-Tenure Track: Professors, Adjunct Professors, Adjunct Research Professor, Research Professors, Visiting Professors, Associate Professors, Adjunct Associate Professors, Research Associate Professors, Teaching Associate Professors, Visiting Associate Professors, Assistant Professors, Adjunct Assistant Professors, Research Assistant Professors, Teaching Assistant Professors, Visiting Assistant professor, Instructors, Adjunct Instructors, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Teaching Specialist, and Senior Teaching Specialist.
A8
Minneapolis Coll. of Art & Design: FT and PT Faculty Vote to Unionize 
Minneapolis College of Art and Design, NLRB Case No. 18-RC-182546

On September 20, 2016, the NLRB Region 18 Director issued a uniting decision and the direction of an election concerning a representation petition filed by SEIU that sought to represent a combined unit of  full-time and part-time non-tenure track faculty at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. 

Full-time faculty at the college include ranked faculty, full-time ranked pro-rata faculty and visiting faculty.  The full-time faculty are not tenure eligible but cannot be terminated without just cause. They are subject to one-year, three-year or five year contracts with most having five-year contracts.  The Regional Director found that full-time faculty obtain "quasi-tenure" when they become full professors and are entitled to renewable five-year contracts.  Adjunct faculty teach a maximum of 12 credits over a 12-month rolling period, and are not entitled to just cause protections.

In his decision, the Regional Director rejected the college's argument that the approximate 35 full-time faculty members are managerial, finding that the college failed to meet its burden of proof of demonstrating faculty control over the primary and secondary areas set forth in Pacific Lutheran University, 361 NLRB No. 157 (2014).

The Regional Director, however, concluded that the full-time faculty and the approximate 80-100 part-time faculty should be in separate bargaining units.  His decision was premised on prior precedent holding that tenured and tenure-track faculty should be in a unit apart from non-tenure track faculty.  He found that separate units at Minneapolis College of Art and Design were appropriate because the two faculty do not share a mutuality of interest due to the following differences: compensation; participation in college government; full-time faculty's eligibility for "quasi- tenure"; and working conditions.

The following are the at-issue bargaining units found to be appropriate:

Part-Time Unit

Included: All part-time faculty who teach undergraduate or graduate-level credit-earning courses or labs at the Employer's campus located at 2501 Stevens Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota, including but not limited to faculty holding the titles of Adjunct Faculty or Adjunct Professor.

Excluded: All full-time faculty, including ranked faculty holding the titles of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Full Professor, pro-rata ranked faculty and visiting faculty; administrators (including Deans, Directors, Provosts and Chairs who may have teaching assignments); Instructors who do not also serve as faculty members; Mentors who do not also serve as faculty members; faculty who teach exclusively on-line; Student Assistants at any level (including those teaching courses in addition to being paid a stipend); Adjuncts who are also employed by the Employer in an administrative role; all other employees at the Employer (including those who teach a class or course and are separately compensated for such teaching); managers, confidential employees, office clerical employees, guards and supervisors, as defined in the Act.

Full-Time Unit

Included: All full-time faculty who teach undergraduate or graduate-level credit-earning courses or labs at the Employer's campus located at 2501 Stevens Avenue South, Minneapolis, Minnesota, including ranked faculty holding the titles of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor or Full Professor, pro-rata ranked faculty and visiting faculty.

Excluded: All part-time faculty including those holding the titles of Adjunct Faculty or Adjunct Professor; administrators (including Deans, Directors, Provosts and Chairs who may have teaching assignments); Instructors who do not also serve as faculty members; Mentors who do not also serve as faculty members; faculty who teach exclusively on-line; Student Assistants at any level (including those teaching courses in addition to being paid a stipend); Adjuncts who are also employed by the Employer in an administrative role, all other employees at the Employer (including those who teach a class or course and are separately compensated for such teaching); managers, confidential employees, office clerical employees, guards and supervisors, as defined in the Act.

On October 19, 2016, the NLRB Region 18 Office tallied the ballots.  The part-time faculty voted 43 to 20 in favor of unionization and the full-time faculty voted 16 to 13 in favor of union representation.
A9  
Augsberg College: SEIU Files to Represent FT-PT Bargaining Unit
Augsburg College, NLRB Case No. 18-RC-186094

On October 13, 2016, SEIU filed a representation petition seeking to represent approximately 260 full-time and part-time contingent faculty employed by Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  The following is the proposed at-issue unit:
 
Included: All non-tenure track full-time and regular part-time faculty who teach undergraduate or graduate-level credit-earning courses or labs (including but not limited to the following titles: instructor, studio artist, or publishing mentors) on the Minneapolis campus located at 2211 Riverside Avenue, Minneapolis, MN 55454

Excluded: All administrators (including Deans, directors, provosts and chairs who may have teaching assignments); Graduate Students (including those teaching courses in addition to being paid a stipend); all other employees at Augsburg College (including those who teach a class or course and are separately compensated for such teaching); managers, confidential employees, office clerical employees, guards, and supervisors as defined by the Act.
A10
Seattle University: SEIU Certified to Represent Adjunct Unit; University to Challenge NLRB's Assertion of Jurisdiction
Seattle University, NLRB Case No. 19-RC-122863

On September 26, 2016, SEIU was certified as the exclusive representative of the following unit of 199 non-tenure track faculty at Seattle University:

Included:  All non-tenure-eligible faculty employed by the Employer, including but not limited to all non-tenure-track instructors, senior instructors, adjunct faculty, senior adjuncts, lecturers, senior lecturers, legacy titles including but not limited to visiting professors, visiting assistant professors, and core lecturers; 
 
Excluded: All faculty teaching in the College of Nursing, all faculty teaching in the School of Law, all non-tenure eligible faculty in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies and in the School of Theology and Ministry, all other employees, professors emeritus, tenure-track and tenured faculty, administrative faculty, full-time staff who are not compensated additionally for teaching, administrators, department administrators, program coordinators, program directors, directors, clinical professor series, library faculty, research faculty, research scientists/scholars, post-doctoral scholars/fellows, truly visiting faculty, distinguished professors, professors in residence, endowed chairs, campus clergy, deans, associate deans, department chairs, campus safety personnel, lab assistants, graduate assistants, teaching assistants, managers, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.
 
The certification follows the August 23, 2016 decision  by the NLRB Board affirming the agency's assertion of jurisdiction over contingent faculty at the religiously-affiliated school, and the September 12, 2016 tally of ballots.  The tally demonstrated that the faculty voted 73-63 in favor of union representation with additional 4 ballots challenged.
 
On September 30, 2016 Seattle University President Father Stephen V. Sundborg announced the university's intent to seek judicial review of the NLRB's assertion of jurisdiction over the faculty representation question on First Amendment grounds.
A11 
State College of Florida Board of Trustees: FT Faculty Vote to Unionize
State College of Florida Board of Trustees, FPERC Case No. EL-2016-022

On October 5, 2016, the Florida Public Employees Relations Commission (FPERC) verified the election results concerning a representation petition filed by the United Faculty of Florida (UFF) seeking to represent a full-time faculty unit at the State College of Florida Board of Trustees.   Of the approximate 107 faculty members eligible to vote, 75 voted in favor of union representation, and 24 voted against.  

As a result of the election FPERC certified UFF as the exclusive representative of the following bargaining unit:

Included:  All full-time employees in the lower division position classifications of instructor, associate professor, assistant professor, and professor.

Excluded: All other employees of the State College of Florida Board of Trustees including program directors, librarians, advisors, department chairs, all employees of the Collegiate School, all faculty in the baccalaureate program, and all confidential and managerial employees.
A12  
Ivy Tech CC: Adjunct Faculty's Sexual Orientation Claim to be Reviewed  
Hively v. Ivy Tech Community College, Case N o. 15-1720  (7th Cir. 2016)

The United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued an order on October 11, 2016 granting a petition for rehearing en banc and vacating a decision affirming the dismissal of a discrimination claim filed by adjunct faculty member Kimberly Hively against Ivy Tech Community College under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  

In her lawsuit, Hively alleges that she was discriminated against by the college because of her sexual orientation when she was rejected for full-time positions.  In July, a three-member panel of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of Hively's claim based on prior precedent holding that sexual orientation is not a protected class under Title VII.  The recent order granting a rehearing en banc means that the prior precedent will be reexamined by a panel composed of all the judges of the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. 
A13
Harvard University: UAW Files to Represent Unit Following Agreement
Harvard University, NLRB Case No.  01-RC-186442

On October 18, 2016, the UAW filed a representation petition with the NLRB seeking to be certified as the exclusive representative of a unit of approximately 3,500 graduate and undergraduate teaching and research assistants at Harvard University.  

In advance of the filing, Harvard  University and the UAW negotiated an election agreement concerning the scope of the bargaining unit and election details. Under the agreement, the election will take place on November 16 and 17, 2016.  It is likely the election will be the first NLRB-supervised election concerning student employees since the Trustees of Columbia University decision.  

The following is the at-issue student employee unit at Harvard:

Included:  All students enrolled in Harvard degree programs employed by the Employer who provide instructional services at Harvard University, including graduate and undergraduate Teaching Fellows (teaching assistants, teaching fellows, course assistants); and  all students enrolled in Harvard degree programs (other than undergraduate students at Harvard College) employed by the Employer  who serve as Research Assistants (regardless of funding sources, including those compensated through Training Grants).  This unit includes students employed by Harvard University and enrolled in the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Business School, the Division of Continuing Education, Harvard Graduate School of Design; Harvard Graduate School of Education, the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, Harvard Law School, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard Medical School, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Harvard College.
 
Excluded: All undergraduate students serving as research assistants, and all other employees, guards and supervisors as defined in the Act. 
 
Harvard and the UAW have also agreed that doctoral students who have been been employed in the bargaining unit for at least one semester during the past academic year and who are not currently in their Dissertation Completion year (or final year of their program) may vote subject to the Board's challenge procedures.
A14
Updates Concerning Other Student Unionization Efforts on Campuses
Yale University, NLRB Case No: 01-RC-183036:

At Yale University, UNITE HERE has withdrawn 1 of the 10 representation petitions it filed with the NLRB seeking departmental bargaining units of graduate student employees.  The withdrawn petition concerned 22 graduate students in Yale's
Comparative Literature Department.   
    
According to reports, the evidentiary record concerning the remaining representation cases is now closed.  The next steps in the process will be the filing of briefs by Yale and UNITE-HERE, which will be followed by a decision of the NLRB Region 1 Director.

At the University of Chicago, the AFT has announced that the members of the Graduate Students United (GSU) voted 302-179 to reaffirm GSU's affiliation with the AFT, IFT and AAUP. 

SEIU has announced that graduate student employees at Syracuse University and the University of Rochester have begun campaigns for unionization.  Immediately following the NLRB's decision in Trustees of Columbia University, SEIU announced graduate student employee unionization drives at Duke ,  Northwestern ,  St. Louis University, and American University.

Below are links to lists of student employee unions in the United States and Canada.  The lists are maintained on the website of the Coalition of Graduate Employee Unions:

United States Student Employee Unions

Canadian Student Employee Unions

Unrecognized Unions and Affiliated Organizing Drives in the USA
A15
The New School: Teamsters File to Represent Administrative Unit
The New School, NLRB Case No. 02-RC-186245

The Teamsters filed a representation petition with the NLRB on October 14, 2016 seeking to represent 200 administrative employees at the New School.  The following is the proposed unit:

Included: Admission, Counselors, Advisors, Audio-Visual enrployees, Delivery Clerks, Information Technology employees, Laboratory Managers, Librarians, Program Administrators, Program Coordinators, Resident Hall Directors, Student Health Services Assistant Directors, Student Account Coordinators, Technicians

Excluded: All other employees.

In the meantime, the representation petition by the UAW to represent all student employees at the New School remains pending at the NLRB Board. 
A16 
Bentley University and Brandeis University: SEIU Files to Clarify Units
Bentley University, NLRB Case No.  01-UC-184941
Brandeis University, NLRB Case No.  01-UC-184928

SEIU filed unit clarification petitions on September 26, 2016 concerning contingent faculty units it represents at Bentley University and at Brandies University.  In a unit clarification petition a party can seek to place additional classifications of employees into a pre-existing bargaining unit.  The specific relief being sought in the two unit clarification cases remains unclear.
A17    
The National Center Welcomes Harold Holzer, Rene Castro and Arlene King-Berry to its Board of Advisors
The National Center is pleased to announce the newest members of our Board of Advisors:
 
Harold Holzer is the Jonathan F. Fanton Director of The Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York City, a post he assumed in 2015 after 23 years as senior vice president of The Metropolitan Museum of Art.  He also served for six years as chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Foundation, and the previous 10 years as co-chair of the U. S. Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, appointed by President Bill Clinton.  In 2008, Mr. Holzer was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President George W. Bush.  Mr. Holzer is the author, co-author, or editor of 52 books on Lincoln and the Civil War era.  His recent Lincoln and the Power of the Press: The War for Public Opinion won the Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize, the Mark Lynton History Prize from the Columbia University School of Journalism, and the Goldsmith Prize from the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at Harvard University's Kennedy School.
 
Mr. Holzer's 2012 book, Lincoln: How Abraham Lincoln Ended Slavery in America was the official young-adult companion book for the Steven Spielberg film Lincoln,for which Holzer served as script consultant.  He also authored The Civil War in 50 Objects, which traces the conflict through the collections of the New-York Historical Society, where he served for three years as the Roger Hertog Fellow. 
 
In addition, Mr. Holzer ( www.haroldholzer.com) has written some 550 articles in both scholarly journals and popular magazines, published 15 monographs, and contributed chapters or prefaces to more than 50 additional volumes.  Among his many other awards are a second-place Lincoln Prize in 2005 for Lincoln at Cooper Union, and book prizes from the Freedom Foundation, the Manuscript Society of America, the Civil War Round Table of New York, and the Illinois State Historical Society, along with lifetime achievement awards from the Lincoln Groups of New York, Washington, Peekskill, Kansas City, and Detroit; as well as honorary degrees from nine colleges and universities.  Mr. Holzer is a member of many history boards and advisory committees, and for 20 years has served as vice chairman of The Lincoln Forum. 
 
Rene Castro is the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Employee and Labor Relations at the California State University, Office of the Chancellor.  Mr. Castro   has over a decade of experience serving as a senior university administrator in the California State University, working at both the campus and system-wide level.  Mr. Castro earned an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership with a specialization in Community College/Higher Education.  His dissertation explored the question of faculty unions and their effects on university shared governance.  He also holds a master's degree in Urban Planning from UCLA and a bachelor's degree in Community Studies from UC Santa Cruz.
   
Mr. Castro has nearly 30 years of experience in public and private sector labor relations including 18 years of experience working as a union staff member in increasingly responsible leadership positions.  His union-side experience includes representing workers in hotels, slaughterhouses, sanitation plants, public hospitals, and more.  Prior to joining the California State University, Mr. Castro served as the Southern Region Organizing Director for the California Faculty Association, the union representing faculty in the CSU system.  
 
Arlene King-Berry is a dynamic educator with a diverse background as a lawyer publisher, funeral director and professional singer and over 20 years of experience in organizational, instructional, and business management in corporations and educational institutions.  She has held a variety of positions in the District of Columbia Public and Charter Schools.  She is currently a full Professor of Special Education at the University of the District of Columbia where she has served as Chair of the Faculty Senate and Chair of the Institutional Review Board.  Her service record includes Chairman of the Board for the Epilepsy Foundation of Metropolitan Washington, mayoral appointment to the Developmental Disabilities' Council, Board Member, Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities and the DC Children's Trust Fund.  The quality of her community service has been recognized by awards from the Developmental Disabilities Council, the Epilepsy Foundation, and the Metropolitan Washington DC Hall of Fame.

David Cecil is the Executive Director of United Academics of the University of Oregon, AAUP-AFT Local 3209.  He received an MA in History from the University of Oregon in 2001 and served as an officer in the graduate employee union at UO, Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation, AFT Local 3544, while earning his degree.  Discovering he loved bargaining contracts more than he loved studying 19th century medical history, he left the PhD program at the UO to become the staff organizer for Local 3544.  After 10 years with the graduates, he helped organize United Academics and, after a brief stint as the Chief of Staff of AFT-Oregon, became the Executive Director of United Academics in 2014.  As Executive Director, he is responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the union, which represents more that 1700 faculty at the UO, including tenure-track and tenured faculty, career non-tenure-track faculty, contingent faculty, research assistants, and postdoctoral scholars.
A18
The Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

Journal of CBA Logo  
   
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
The Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy (JCBA) is the National Center's peer review journal co-edited by Jeffrey Cross, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Eastern Illinois University, and Steve Hicks, Associate Professor of English, Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania.  The most recent volume of JCBA is available here.
 
We encourage scholars, practitioners, and graduate students in the fields of collective bargaining, labor representation, labor relations, and labor history to submit articles for potential publication in future JCBA volumes. 
A19       
Upcoming Event at NYU Center for Labor and Employment Law 
Our friends at the NYU Labor and Employment Law Center have announced an event on November 18, 2016 that will feature Andy Stern, the former SEIU President, discussing his new book, Raising the Floor: How a Universal Basic Income Can Renew Our Economy and Rebuild the American Dream. 

The event will take place at NYU School of Law, Joseph and Gwendolyn Straus Faculty Club, D'Agostino Hall, 108 West 3rd Street in Manhattan.
National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions 
national.center@hunter.cuny.edu | http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/ncscbhep
H unter College, City University of New York
425 E 25th St.
Box 615
New York, NY 10010