Happy Thanksgiving from the National Center

We encourage institutions, unions, law firms, and individuals to donate to help support the National Center’s research and programming.

November 2025 Newsletter

This month's newsletter includes early registration information for our 53rd Annual Conference on March 22-24, 2026 in New York City. The keynote speaker will be Wesleyan University President Michael S. Roth. 

The conference will include over two dozen panels on important issues in these challenging times. In this newsletter we provide an update of confirmed panels and participants including a special luncheon book presentation by AFT President Randi Weingarten. The newsletter also provides information about sponsorships and conference program advertisements, along with other ways to support the work of the National Center.

The newsletter includes information about our Contract Research Site, a contribution-based platform, which will allow users to research the terms of hundreds of collective bargaining agreements in higher education.

We announce that Dennis Armistead has joined our Board of Advisors. He is a former Association of Academic Personnel Administrators (AAPA) President and the University of Massachusetts Amherst Assistant Provost and Senior Director of Academic Labor Relations.

The newsletter also reports on a recent arbitration award reinstating contingent faculty at Portland State University, a newly certified graduate student employee unit at Pennsylvania State University, a new undergraduate bargaining unit at Temple University, recently filed representations petitions for museum employees in New York City, and student employee representation efforts on the California State University Long Beach Campus.



Lastly, the newsletter includes information about two new books of interest to our labor-management community, links to videos from our 2025 annual conference, and links to articles from the most volume of our Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy.

Register Now for the National Center's Annual Conference

in New York City on March 22-24, 2026

Early Bird Special

The National Center is pleased to announce that early bird registration is open for our 53rd annual conference. The conference will take place on March 22-24, 2026 in New York City. The theme of the conference will be Uniting for Workplace and Political Democracy.

Register here using the early bird rates for the annual conference. The following are the conference registration rates:

Special conference registration rates for adjunct faculty, post-doctoral scholars, graduate and undergraduate students, CUNY faculty, administrators, and staff. For promo codes, contact the National Center.

All fees are payable by credit card; to pay by check contact the National Center: msavares@hunter.cuny.edu

2026 Annual Conference Keynote Speaker:

Wesleyan University President Michael S. Roth

The National Center is pleased to announce that Wesleyan University President, Michael S. Roth will give the keynote address at the National Center's 53rd Annual Conference in New York City on March 22-24, 2026.

President Roth became the 16th president of Wesleyan University in 2007, after having served as Hartley Burr Alexander Professor of Humanities at Scripps College, Associate Director of the Getty Research Institute, and President of the California College of the Arts. He is one of the leading higher education voices defending the value of colleges and universities and their importance to our democracy.

President Roth is known for his work as an administrator, scholar, and public intellectual. He is the author of numerous books—many bearing on liberal education—and regularly publishes essays, book reviews, and commentaries in national media and scholarly journals. In 2025, he was given the PEN/Benenson Courage Award for standing up against governmental assaults on higher education.

Confirmed 2026 Panels and Panelists

Below is a list of currently confirmed panels and workshops for next year's conference. Additional sessions will be announced over the next few weeks.

Plenary: Education 4 All with Michael Gavin, President, Delta College, Paulette Granberry Russell, J.D., President, PNational Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, Todd Wolfson, President, AAUP, and Alexandra (Sascha) Matish, Associate Vice Provost for Academic and Faculty Affairs and Senior Director, Academic Human Resources, University of Michigan, Moderator. (Panel in formation).

Research Panel: Report on Negotiated Academic Freedom Clauses in Collective Bargaining Agreements with Timothy Reese Cain, Associate Director and Professor of Higher Education, University of Georgia, Anita Levy, Senior Program Officer, AAUP, Erin Ward, PhD Student in Sociology, CUNY Graduate Center, and Kathryn Ritchie, M.A. Candidate, School of Education, Hunter College. Commentators will be Rana Jaleel, Associate Professor, University of California-Davis and Nicholas DiGiovanni, Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP, with moderator Risa L. Lieberwitz, Professor of Labor and Employment Law, School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University.

Interactive Workshop: Negotiating over Academic Freedom with Bethany Gizzi, President, Monroe Community College Faculty Association, Joseph McConnell, Morgan, Brown & Joy LLP and Kathy Sheffield, CFA Director of Representation and Bargaining, Moderator. (Workshop in formation).

Book Discussion: Academic Freedom From Professional Norm to First Amendment Right (Harvard University Press, 2024) with David M. Rabban, Chair and Professor, The University of Texas School of Law, and author, Academic Freedom From Professional Norm to First Amendment Right, Nadine Strossen, New York Law School Professor Emerita and Senior Fellow, FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), Commentator, and Frederick P. Schaffer, former General Counsel, CUNY, Moderator. (Panel in formation).

Luncheon Book Presentation: Why Fascists Fear Teachers: Public Education and the Future of Democracy (Random House 2025) with American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten.

Panel: Discrimination Issues on a Unionized Campus with Katherine H. Hansen, Partner, Gladstein, Reif & Meginniss, Steven J. Porzio, Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Ana Avendano, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law, Moderator. (Panel in formation).

Panel: Litigation Update in Defense of Democracy(CLE) with David D. Cole, Professor in Law and Public Policy, Georgetown Law School and former ACLU National Legal Director, Will Creely, Legal Director, FIRE (the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression), Alex Abdo, Litigation Director, Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, snd Rabia Muqaddam, Special Counsel for Federal Initiatives, Office of the New York State Attorney, Moderator.

Panel: Litigation Update and Administrative Remedies in Defense of Federal Research Funding (CLE) with Amanda Fuchs Miller, Seventh Street Strategies, Rachel Homer, Democracy Forward, Adelaide Pagano, Assistant Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division, Office of Massachusetts Attorney General, and Jessica Alvarez, Interim General Counsel, Hunter College, CUNY, Moderator.

Panel: Community College Perspectives on AI Policy and Codified Teaching Practice: Faculty and Administrator Views, Liability Implications, and Impacts at the Bargaining Table with Andre’ L. Poplar, J.D., Vice Chancellor for Human Resources, Oakland Community College, Cameron Redden, Ed.D., Executive Director, Presidential Initiatives & Strategic Management, Cuyahoga Community College, Deborah H. Williams, J.D., Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Johnson County Community College, Former JCCC Faculty Association President and Lead Negotiator, Eric Rader, AFT’s Higher Ed's Policy and Program Council and AI Task Force, President, AFT Local, Henry Ford Community College, and Martin Balinsky, Ph.D., Professor Tallahassee State College, President, United Faculty of Florida-Tallahassee State College, Moderator.

Interactive Workshop: Ensuring Equitable AI Transitions in Higher Education Workplaces and Beyond with Joy Ming, Postdoc, Cornell ILR, Dibyendu Mishra, PhD Student, Cornell Information Science, Ayham Boucher, Head of AI Innovations, Cornell Information Technologies, and Ariel Avgar, Professor, Cornell ILR.

Panel: When Democracy and Equity Collide: Responses to Promote Institutional Learning with Elizabethada Wright, Professor, University of Minnesota Duluth, and Contract Administrator, UEA, Josué Arredondo, adjunct English Professor, Southwestern College and San Diego Miramar College, Michael Buchler, Professor of Music Theory, Florida State University and co-chief negotiator, United Faculty of Florida–FSU, Geoffery Johnson, adjunct English and Humanities Professor, San Diego Mesa and Southwestern Colleges and President, AFT National Adjunct Contingent Caucus, John L. Hoffman, President, Bemidji State University, Commentator, and Christina Gallup, Associate Professor, University of Minnesota Duluth, Moderator.

Interactive Workshop: Stress Reduction for Faculty, Administrators, Student Employees, and Staff with facilitators Serena Rice, M.S., Project Manager, UMass Lowell and Courtney Hill, LCSW, CSWM Social Services Specialist, NYSUT. (Workshop in formation).

Panel: Best Practices in Establishing or Opposing Past Practices in Labor Arbitration with Shinika Hunter, Labor Relations Specialist, NYSUT, Kevin Pollit, NYSUT Regional Director, John Gross, Ingerman Smith LLP, Christopher Mestecky, Guercio and Guercio LLP, and Katie Rosen, Arbitrator and Mediator, Moderator.

Research Panel: Equity at Work? Gender, Parenthood, and Benefits in Higher Education with Rhiannon M. Maton, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Foundations and Social Advocacy, State University of New York, Cortland, Affiliated Researcher, National Center, Carrie Rohman, Ph.D., Professor of English, Lafayette College, Editor, SUNY Press (2025) “Broken Record: Gendered Abuse in Academia”, Eve Weinbaum, Ph.D., President, Massachusetts Society of Professors and Professor of Sociology & Labor Studies, UMass Amherst, UMass Amherst, Melissa Sortman, Assistant Provost for Faculty and Academic Staff Affairs, Michigan State University, and Shirley Lin, Associate Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School, Moderator. 

Research Panel: Postdocs, Sexual Harassment, and Collective Bargaining--Intersections and Issues with Kait Spear, Program Officer, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Andrea Joseph, Assistant Professor of Biomedical and Chemical Engineering at Syracuse University, and Karen R. Stubaus, Vice President of Academic Affairs Emerita at Rutgers University and Affiliated Researcher at the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions. (Panel in formation).

Panel: Union Leaders of Color Transforming Higher Education and Centering Democracy with María del Mar Rosa Rodríguez, Professor Hispanic Studies, Universidad de Puerto Rico Recinto de Cayey, President, Asociación Puertorriqueña de Profesores Universitarios (APPU), Charles Toombs, Professor of Africana Studies, San Diego State University, Immediate Past President, California Faculty Association, Michelle Ramos Pellicia, Professor of World Languages and Hispanic Literature, California State University, San Marcos, Vice President, California Faculty Association, Tracey Salisbury, Associate Professor, Chair, Ethnic Studies, California State University, Bakersfield, Associate Vice President, South, California Faculty Association, and Margarita Berta-Avila, Professor of Education, Sacramento State University, President, California Faculty Association, Moderator.

Panel: Turnover the Other Cheek: Challenges of Collective Bargaining for Graduate Assistant Populations with Cassandra Urbenz, UF GAU President and NEA Graduate Committee, University of Florida, Tessa Barber, USF GAU President, NEA Graduate Committee, University of South Florida and United Faculty of Florida, VP of GAU Bargaining Council, Michael Eagen, Associate Provost, Academic Personnel, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Ayanna Thomas, Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Tufts University, and Rebecca S. Natow, Associate Professor, Educational Leadership & Policy, Director, EdD Program in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies and MSEd Program in Higher Education Leadership & Policy Studies, Hofstra University, Moderator.

Panel: Creating Shop Culture in Higher Ed Unions with Sunshine Alvarez de Silva, UVM-GSU UAW 2322, Sara V. Speller, HGSU-UAW Local 5118, and Lily Luo, GEU-UAW 6950. (Panel in formation).

Panel: Creative Responses to Persistent Inequities of Contingent Labor in Community Colleges with Jennifer Shanoski, Faculty, Merritt College, Wendy Brill-Wynkoop, Past President, Faculty Association of the California Community Colleges, Colena Sesanker, Chair, Faculty Advisory Committee to the Board of Regents for Higher Education, Connecticut State Community Colleges, Christine Mangino, President, Queensborough Community College, CUNY, and Robin G. Isserles, Faculty, BMCC, CUNY, Discussant and Moderator.

Book Discussion: Library Workers as Defenders of Democracy: Organize Your Library! Developing the Collective Power of Library Workers (Critical Cultural Information Studies series), ALA Editions, 2025 with Emily Drabinski, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, Queens College, CUNY, Kelly McElroy, Librarian and Associate Professor, Oregon State University (OSU), Angelo Moreno, Organizer, AFSCME Council 31, Chicago, Maura Smale, Executive Chief Librarian, CUNY Graduate Center, and Meredith Kahn, Librarian, University of Michigan, Moderator.

Panel: The Crisis of Collegiate Black Male Identity: Education, Work, and Democracy with Rolando Shannon, Doctoral Candidate, Tennessee State University, Interim Assistant Athletic Director of Student Development, Nicole Arrighi, NCAA Faculty Representative, Tennessee State University, and Ajah Hawley-Alexander, Clinical Lecturer, Iona University, Doctoral Candidate, University of Southern Mississippi, Moderator. (Panel in formation).

Panel: Strategies to Protect International and Immigrant Faculty and Students with César Moreno Pérez, Senior Associate Director, Human Rights & Community Relations Department, AFT, Diego N. Sánchez, Esq. Director of Policy and Strategy, Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, Danielle Dirocco, Higher Education Organizational Specialist, National Education Association, and Ashwini Sukthankar, National Center Affiliated Researcher, Moderator.

Panel: Annual Legal Update (CLE) with Damien DiGiovanni, Morgan, Brown & Joy, LLP, Amy L. Rosenberger, Willig, Williams & Davidson, Aaron Nisenson, Senior Legal Counsel, AAUP, Brian Selchick, Cullen and Dykman LLP, and Ayanna T. Blake, Director Labor Relations, Weill Cornell Medicine, Moderator.  

53rd Annual National Conference Sponsors

National Center Contract Research Site

On October 1, 2025, the National Center launched our Contract Research Site, an annual contribution-based platform. It is a valuable tool for negotiators, union representatives, administrators, law firms, and others involved in or studying higher education collective bargaining.

The Site includes a search engine to research the terms of hundreds of collective bargaining agreements in higher education. It will also provide filters to permit research by institution, institution type, unit type, bargaining agent, sector, and state.

Access to the Site requires a registration and an annual contribution to the National Center in the amounts set forth below. The contribution will permit a set number of identified individual users to use the Site. A contributor will also be entitled to be listed as a sponsor of our annual conference.

Click here to register and contribute for user access to the Contract Research Site.

Below are images from the Contract Research Site:

Below is a list of annual contribution amounts, the number of identified users entitled to access the Site, and the conference status of the contributor.

Annual contributions received by the National Center will help finance the regular updating of the Site with new first and successor contracts as well as contracts for non-academic employees working in higher education

Limited access to the Site by part-time non-track faculty, postdoctoral scholars and doctoral candidates, graduate and undergraduate student researchers without departmental, institutional, or grant research funding will be determined on an individual need basis. Requests for access by those individuals should be sent to msavares@hunter.cuny.edu.

Become a 53rd Annual Conference Sponsor or Program Advertiser

2026 Conference Sponsorships

To help support the National Center and its 53nd annual national conference, we encourage higher education institutions, unions, law firms, organizations, and companies to become a conference sponsor. 

Through a conference sponsorship, you will demonstrate support for the National Center’s mission, programming, and research agenda.

Major Supporting Partner: $15,000

Benefits:

• Complimentary registration for 3 attendees and a 50% reduction for a fourth;
• Your organization’s logo and link to your site on the National Center website;
• Opportunity to make introductory remarks at the plenary or mid-day greetings;
• Your organization’s name referenced in our monthly newsletter;
• Inclusion of a one-page display ad in the conference program;
• Listing as a major supporting sponsor of the annual conference, webinars, and conference receptions.

Supporting Partner: $10,000

Benefits:

• Complimentary registration for 2 attendees and a 50% reduction for a third;
• Your organization’s logo and link to your site on the National Center website;
• Your organization's name referenced in our monthly newsletter;
• Inclusion of a one-page display ad in the conference program;
• Listing as a supporting sponsor of the annual conference, webinars, and conference receptions.

Participating Sponsor: $5,000

Benefits:

• Complimentary registration for one conference attendee;
• Your organization’s logo and link to your site on the National Center website;
• Your organization's name referenced in our monthly newsletter;
• Inclusion of a half-page display ad in the conference program;
• Listing as a participating sponsor of the annual conference, webinars, and conference breaks.

Basic Sponsor: $2,500

Benefits:

• Complimentary registration for one conference attendee;
• Listing as a sponsor on the National Center website;
• Your organization’s name referenced in our monthly newsletter;
• Inclusion of a one-quarter display ad in the conference program;
• Listing as a basic sponsor of the annual conference, webinars, and conference breaks.

Introductory Sponsor: $1,500

Benefits:

• Complimentary registration for one conference attendee;
• Listing as a sponsor on the National Center website;
• Your organization’s name referenced in our monthly newsletter;
• Inclusion of a one-quarter display ad in the conference program;
• Listing as an introductory sponsor of the annual conference, webinars, and conference breaks.

Friend of the National Center: $500

Benefits:

• Complimentary registration for one conference attendee;
• Listing of your name as a friend of the National Center on our website, newsletter, and in the conference program.

2026 Conference Program Advertisements

Another important way to celebrate the National Center’s 53rd conference and demonstrate support for our mission and research is for your institution, union, law firm, organization or company to place an advertisement in our 2026 conference program similar to this year's conference program.

Full-page advertisement:      $ 1,500

Half-page advertisement:      $   750

Quarter-page advertisement: $  275

Please email us with any questions about sponsorships and advertisement purchases at: msavares@hunter.cuny.edu.

New National Center Board Member: Dennis Armistead,

University of Massachusetts-Amherst Assistant Provost/

Senior Director of Academic Labor

The National Center is pleased to welcome Dennis Armistead to our Board of Advisors as a representative of the Association of Academic Personnel Administrators (AAPA).

Dennis is the University of Massachusetts-Amherst's Assistant Provost/Senior Director of Academic Labor Relations and the immediate former AAPA president.

Dennis’s primary duties at at the university include working directly with senior leadership, deans, directors, and department chairs in all aspects of collective bargaining and labor contract administration relating to the University’s faculty, graduate assistant, and post-doctoral employee bargaining agreements. He is the primary point of contact for issues relating to the Postdoc and Graduate student labor unions representing almost 3,000 employees. Prior to his current position, Dennis served as the senior academic human resources administrator at Central Michigan University and as a labor relations specialist with the State of Michigan, Department of Civil Service. Most recently, Dennis concluded service to the profession as President of the Academy of Academic Personnel Administrators. Dennis received his B.A. in Journalism and Master of Science (Human Resource Administration) from Central Michigan University and his J.D. from Thomas M. Cooley Law School. Dennis also served as a graduate intern at the National Labor Relations Board, Region 7 and completed the MLE program at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (2017).

Portland State Univ.: Arbitrator Orders Ten Contingent Faculty Reinstated

On November 6, 2025, Arbitrator Dorothy C. Foley issued a decision and award sustaining grievances by 10 laid-off non-tenure track faculty at Portland State University that were pursued to arbitration by their union, AAUP-PSU. 

The grievances alleged that the university failed to comply with revisions to the parties’ contract that required it to follow the contract's retrenchment procedures for laying off contingent faculty when the university is facing a fiscal exigency. Instead, the university bypassed the retrenchment article and relied on another contract provision dealing with layoffs due to curricula needs or programmatic requirements.

Following a review of the record, the arbitrator concluded that university “[b]udgetary concerns [were] ‘stamped’ on virtually every piece of evidence in this case" and found that the university had deliberately attempted to avoid the detailed procedures mandated by the retrenchment article. As a result, the arbitrator sustained the grievances and ordered that the 10 faculty be restored to their positions and made whole for losses resulting from their lay-offs.

Pennsylvania State University: UAW Certified to Represent GSE Unit

Pennsylvania State University, PLRB Case No. PERA-R-24-276-E

On November 21, 2025. the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board (PLRB) certified the Coalition of Graduate Employees (CGE)-UAW at Penn State as the exclusive representative of a bargaining unit of graduate student employees at Pennsylvania State University. 



The certification followed the tallying of the ballots by PLRB on November 13, 2024, which demonstrated that the graduate student employees voted 1882-198 in favor of CGE-UAW at Penn State representation. 

The following is a description of the new bargaining unit at Pennsylvania State University:

Included: All full-time and regular part-time professional employees of the University who are graduate students on graduate assistantship and who perform services as teaching assistants, research assistants, or administrative support assistants.

Excluded: Graduate students on fellowship, traineeship, management level employees, supervisors, first level supervisors, confidential and guards as defined by the Act.

Temple Univ. OPEIU Certified to Represent Undergraduate Employees

Temple University, PLRB Case No. PERA-R-24-232-E

On October 16, 2025, OPEIU Local 153 was certified by the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board to represent a bargaining unit of all full-time and regular part-time resident advisors and peer mentors at Temple University. The certification followed an election in which the at-issue employees voted 97-1 in favor of OPEIU Local 153 representation. 

The following is a description of the newly certified bargaining unit at Temple University:

Included: All full-time and regular part-time nonprofessional Resident Assistants and Peer Mentors assigned to living and learning communities within University Housing



Excluded: Management level employes, supervisors, first level sueprviosrs, confidential employes and guards as defined by the Act.

Metropolitan Museum of Art: UAW Files to Represent Professional and Non-Professional Museum Employees

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NLRB Case No. 02-RC-374601

On November 17, 2024, the Technical Office and Professional Union, Local 2110, UAW, filed a petition with the NLRB seeking to represent a unit of approximately 990 full-time and part-time professional and nonprofessional employees at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Manhattan.

The following is the unit sought in the petition:

Included: All full-time and regular part-time professional and non-professional employees of the Employer.

Excluded: All employees represented by another labor organization, guards, managers, and supervisors as defined by the Act.                       

National Museum of Mathematics: Representation Petition Filed

National Museum of Mathematics, NLRB Case No. 02-RM-374591

On November 10, 2025, the National Museum of Mathematics filed a representation petition with the National Labor Relations Board in response to a demand for recognition by District Council 37, AFSCME to represent a unit of 35 museum employees.

The following is a description of the proposed unit:

Included: All persons employed by the National Museum of Mathematics in the titles: accounting manager; assistant floor manager; assistant retail manager; centroid fellow; chief of educational programs; communications assistant; creative technologist; digital assistant; executive coordinator; exhibit technician; exponent fellow; facilities coordinator; finance manager; floor manager; graphic designer; ITE assistant; office administrator; office manager; outreach mathematician; patron relations assistant; program assistant; retail manager; senior content advisor; senior development officer; senior educator; senior interactive technologist; technology coordinator; technology support assistant; and volunteer coordinator.” The Museum disputes the appropriateness of the union’s claimed unit, and proposes the unit should consist of “all persons regularly employed by the National Museum of Mathematics in the titles: accounting manager; administrative coordinator; assistant retail manager; associate, visitor outreach and education; centroid fellow; creative technologist; senior digital content assistant; executive coordinator; exhibit technician; exponent fellow; finance manager; graphic designer; office administrator; outreach mathematician; patron relations assistant; program coordinator and educator; retail manager; senior content advisor; senior educator; senior interactive technologist; technology coordinator; technology assistant; and volunteer coordinator.

Excluded:  All other employees, including, but not limited to, managerial employees, confidential employees, temporary employees, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act should be excluded.

Associated Students Inc: Private Sector Student Employee Representation on California State University Long Beach Campus

Associated Students Inc, NLRB Case Nos. 21-RC-367562 and 21-RC-374497

On November 14, 2025 California State University Employees Union (CSUEU)/SEIU Local 2579 filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) seeking to add 381 employees to its certified bargaining unit of student employees working for Associated Students, Inc. on the California State University (CSU) Long Beach Campus.

On September 8, 2025, CSUEU//SEIU Local 2579 had been certified to represent a bargaining unit of 36 student employees of the private employer on the CSU Long Beach campus. The certification was issued following the tally of ballots on August 27, 2025 demonstrating that the student employees had vote 16-12 in favor of CSUEU/SEIU Local 2579.

The following is the description of the currently certified unit of private sector employees on the CSU Long Beach Campus

Included: All full-time and regular part-time employees, including facilities

services staff, lead facilities services staff, facilities maintenance technicians,

program teachers, assistant teachers, beach balance massage therapists, wellness

coordinators, event coordinators, special projects coordinators, AV specialists,

government affairs coordinators, government affairs senior coordinators, financial

operations coordinators, beach pantry coordinators, accounting and fiscal analysts,

eligibility specialists and student leadership coordinators employed by the Employer at and out of its operations currently located at California State University, Long Beach at Isabel Patterson Child Development Center at 5700 East Atherton Street, Long Beach, California, Student Wellness and Recreation Center at 1401 Palo Verde Avenue, Long Beach, California, and University Student Union at 1212 Bellflower Boulevard, Long Beach, California.

Excluded: All other employees, office clerical employees, professional employees,

managerial employees, confidential employees, digital media managers, group

fitness instructors, head teachers, student workers, senior accountants expenditures, guards, and supervisors as defined in the Act.

National Center Newsletter Sponsor

Upcoming Book by National Center

Affiliated Researcher Rhiannon M. Maton

The Handbook on Teachers' Work: International Perspectives on Research and Practice is an upcoming volume edited by National Center Affiliated Researcher Rhiannon M. Maton and Nina Bascia. It brings together research and evidence-based authoritative writings from across the globe that theorizes and studies teachers’ work.

Drawing on research from twelve countries across 6 continents, the chapters are grouped into themes that represent key issues related to work from global perspectives, including:

The Political and Policy Contexts of Teachers' Work

Teaching as an Occupation

Diverse Teacher Identities and Roles

Teaching as Collective and Relational Work; and

Teaching and Activism

The volume explores the idea of teaching as an occupation with a history and trajectory that are shaped by political economies; historical progressions; organizational structures; social relations among educators, students, and others; teachers’ career and labor patterns; their professional norms; and raced, gendered, classed, and culturally linked expectations of teachers and about public schooling.

Pre-order copies are available here:

New Book on Unionization of Library Workers

Video Recordings from the 2025 Annual National Conference

The theme of our 2025 annual national conference was Unity in Defense of Higher Education and Collective Bargaining. The full conference program can be downloaded here.

Below are links to recordings of the welcoming remarks and select presentations from the conference. We thank the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute staff and Hunter College student videographers for their assistance.

Welcoming Remarks with William A. Herbert, Executive Director, National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, Hunter College, CUNY, Manoj Pardasani, Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs, Hunter College, CUNY, Malini Cadambi-Daniel, Executive Director, Professional Staff Congress-CUNY, AFT Local 2334, Ahsan Ali, Senior Director of Labor Relations, Tufts University, and Jessica Baker, Hunter College student and National Center Intern.

Keynote Presentation: Unity in Defense of Higher Education and Collective Bargaining with Randi Weingarten, President, American Federation of Teachers, Lynn Pasquerella, President, American Association of Colleges and Universities, and Adrienne Lu, Senior Reporter, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Moderator.

Research Panel: Presentation on the 2024 Directory of Faculty Contracts and Bargaining Agents in Higher Education with Jacob Apkarian, Associate Professor, Sociology, York College, CUNY, Joseph van der Naald, PhD Candidate in Sociology, Graduate Center, CUNY, Susan Kelly, President, Microsearch Corporation, Mary Taber, Director of Research, UUP, Commentator, Dana Fleming, Associate General Counsel, Tufts University, Commentator, and Malini Cadambi-Daniel, Executive Director, Professional Staff Congress-CUNY, AFT Local 2334, Moderator.

Panel: Current Immigration Issues in Higher Education with Miriam Feldblum, co-founder and Executive Director, Presidents Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, Cianna Freeman-Tolbert, Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP, and Channing Cooper, Deputy Director, AFT Legal Department, Panelist and Moderator.

Research Panel: Work Stoppage Across the Educational Continuum: K-12 to Higher Education with Jacob Apkarian, Associate Professor, Sociology, York College, CUNY and National Center Affiliated Researcher, Melissa Arnold Lyon, Assistant Professor of Public Policy, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy, University at Albany, SUNY, Daniel Iskhakov, National Center Graduate Research Fellow, and Rhiannon M. Maton, Associate Professor, Foundations and Social Advocacy, SUNY Cortland and National Center Visiting Scholar, Panelist and Moderator.

Panel: Artificial Intelligence: Changing the Bargaining Landscape with Jeffrey M. Hirsch, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Geneva Yeargan Rand Distinguished Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law, Alec Thomson, President, National Council for Higher Education, NEA, Nicholas L. Collins, ArentFox Schiff LLP, and

Arthur Pearlstein, Arbitrator and Mediator, Moderator.

Book Discussion: Organizing Professionals: Academic Employees Negotiating a New Academy with author Gary Rhoades, Professor and Director, Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Arizona, Richard Gomes, Staff Representative, AFT New Jersey, Jennie Shanker, Staff Representative, AFT New Jersey, Laura Murphy, Dutchess Community College, Dan Echikson, Organizer, ACT-UAW Local 7902, and Ryan Quinn, Reporter, Inside Higher Ed, Moderator.

Panel: Administrator Responses to Campus Protest: Lessons from History with Ellen Schrecker, Professor of History (retired), Yeshiva University, member Committee A on Academic Freedom and Tenure, AAUP, Paul Ortiz, Professor of Labor History, Cornell ILR, Jelani Favors, Author of Shelter in a Time of Storm: How Black Colleges Fostered Generations of Leadership and Activism, Henry E. Frye Distinguished Professor, Department of History and Political Science and Director, Center of Excellence for Social Justice, North Carolina A&T State University, and Dale Kapla, Senior Associate Provost, Northern Michigan University, Moderator.

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, Volume 16

Last month, Volume 16 of the National Center's Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy was published. The Journal is an open-access, peer-reviewed, online periodical advancing research and scholarly thought related to collective bargaining and other issues in higher education, and making relevant and pragmatic peer-reviewed research readily accessible.

From the Editors

JCBA's Origins, Evolution, & Future by Gary Rhoades and Karen Stubaus

Articles

Who Benefits from a Faculty Union During a Pandemic? by Mary Ellen Benedict, David McClough, and John Hoag

Faculty Views About Their COVID-19 Layoffs from a Public University in the US Midwest by Susan E. Ramlo

A Beautiful Mind Meets Harsh Reality: Practical Tips for Negotiators When Bargaining Strays from Ideal Conditions by Christopher C. Douglas, Ellen Grachek, Allyson Strickland, and Marie Waung

How Do Collective Agreements Stack Up? Implications For Academic Freedom by Tim Ribaric and Rahul Kumar

The Limits of Law: Lessons for Collective Bargaining by Eric J. Scarffe and Daniel Saunders

Practitioner Perspectives

"No Pay, No RAs": Resident Assistant Unionization Amidst University Backlash by Justin Weller

Navigating Harassment and Discrimination at University of California through UAW 4811's Abusive Conduct Contract Provisions by Sarah Arveson and Emily Weintraut

Graduate Student Labor Unions: Two Experienced Academic Administrators Share Their Views by Karen R. Stubaus

Research Notes

Every Grain of Sand: 2024 Changes to the Scope of Higher Education Unionization by William A. Herbert, Joseph van der Naald, and Jacob Apkarian

Book Review

Towards a Progressive Academy: Review of Organizing Professionals: Academic Employees Negotiating a New Academy by Rebecca Kolins Givan

The Journal co-editors are Gary Rhoades, University of Arizona, Karen Stubaus, National Center Visiting Scholar and former Vice President for Academic Affairs at Rutgers University, and Jacob Apkarian, York College, City University of New York. The Journal is supported in part by a generous contribution from TIAA and is hosted by the institutional repository of Eastern Illinois University, The Keep, a service of EIU's Booth Library.

The Journal is now accepting submissions for Volume 17 to be published in March 2026. Our authors customarily include college and university faculty and administrators, scholars, graduate students, union activists and leaders, and others interested in collective bargaining in higher education. Please see the Aims & Scope page for more information or contact the co-editors with any questions on possible submissions.