Look for a ballot email by Monday March 20, 2017, 7:00 AM and the election will go through Monday April 10, 2017 12:00 AM EDT. Contact the Union office with any questions or issues. Office @ AAUPAFT.org
Running for President
CHARLES J. PARRISH
Professor, Political Science, College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Academic Experience: Professor, 1971-present; Department Chair, 1971-1976; Director, Institute of Gerontology, 1972-1985
Other University Appointments: Visiting Professor, University of Chile, 1964; Senior Lecturer, University of Essex (England), 1967-1968; Assistant and Associate Professor of Government, University of Texas, 1967-1971; Visiting Professor, Department of Political Science, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Summer, 1974; Published research on Latin American politics and governmental policy, American politics, aging policy and related subjects.
Union Experience: President, American Association of University Professors-American Federation of Teachers (AAUP-AFT), Local 6075, Wayne State University Chapter, 1989-1993, 1996-1998, 1999-present; Faculty Grievance Coordinator; Faculty Contract Implementation Officer; Negotiating Team Member; various other Union posts
AAUP Office: Elected Member, Executive Council, AAUP National; Past Elected Member, Executive Council, Collective Bargaining Congress (CBC), AAUP National; President, Michigan State Conference, AAUP
AFT Office: Member, Higher Education Program and Policy Committee, AFT National; At-Large Vice-President, AFT Michigan
Other University Service: Member, Academic Senate, 1976-present; Member, Faculty Council, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS), 2006-present; Member, Board of Governors Committee on Budget and Finance, various years; Member, Presidential Search Committee, 2008, 2013; Member of many committees at all levels of the University
Statement: I am a strong supporter of the principles of academic governance. The Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with the WSU AAUP-AFT is the guarantor of academic governance here at the University. I have been a member of the leadership of the Union since leaving the Administration in 1985. I have consistently supported the strong role of the Academic Senate, of which I have been an elected member for many years, in policy making in the University.
As President of the Union, I played a key role in the completion of the present CBA, a few days before Michigan's right-to-work act became law. This guarantees the stability of the Union into the immediate future. Our stability contributes to the constancy of academic government at the University for the years to come. The Union is seen, by sensible academics and administrators, as a responsible partner to the Administration in working for an effective institution. I pledge that as President I will work to continue this role, while never forgetting that our primary job is to defend the rights of our members.
"An injury to one is an injury to all."
Running for Secretary
PAUL J. BEAVERS
Librarian IV, Library Computing & Media Services, University Libraries
Paul Beavers is a Librarian IV with ESS in the University Library System. Since 2011, he has been the University Libraries' Coordinator for Collection Development and Assessment. He is responsible for establishing policies and procedures, allocating budgets, and managing expenditures for library materials. In FY 2016, this involved expenditures of some $9,970,000. Since 2006, he has coordinated assessment within the University Libraries, gathering the data on inputs, outputs, and satisfaction necessary to improve performance and efficiency. His career at the Wayne State University Libraries began in 1993 and, in addition to his roles as the Coordinator for Collection Development and Assessment, has involved service as Assistant Director and Director of the Purdy/Kresge Library and Director of Information Services. He was a member of the Academic Senate from 2011 to 2013, and from 2016 to 2018. As a member of the Senate, he has served on the Faculty Affairs and the Curriculum and Instruction Committees. He has also been a member of the Humanities Center Advisory Board and the WSU Assessment Committee. He has been an active Union Council Representative since 2011. In the Libraries, he has served as a member of the Libraries Forum Executive Committee; Budget Committee; ESS, Tenure and Promotion Committee; and Salary Committee. He has been active in professional work within academic librarianship at the national level, chairing committees on information literacy, intellectual freedom, and standards and accreditation, as well as serving on committees concerning assessment and the value of academic libraries. He was the Treasurer of the American Library Association's Intellectual Freedom Round Table from 2009 through 2011. He received his B.A. from Wayne State University, and Master's degrees in English and Information and Library Science from the University of Michigan.
Statement: I am very strongly committed to facilitating and improving communications within our Union. One of my pursuits in any organization in which I serve is to make sure that those with whom I am working have the information they need to succeed in their efforts and participate in setting goals and formulating strategies. I am particularly aware of this duty when I serve as a representative as I do as a member of the Academic Senate and Union Council Representative. I am eager to serve our Union in a position focused on communication. I believe strong communication is indispensable in persuading our "fair share" colleagues to become true Union members. I want our colleagues to have full confidence in our Union because it has earned such confidence. It is truly essential to secure our full rights and protections as workers and preserve our role in University governance. I am convinced that in keeping the Union strong and vigilant, we are maintaining the foundations for research, learning, and teaching.
MOIRA FRACASSA
Academic Services Officer III, Office of Student Affairs, College of Pharmacy & Health Sciences
Degrees/Awards: Bachelor of Arts, English, University of Detroit; Master of Arts, English, Wayne State University; Master of Library and Information Sciences, Wayne State University; Academic Staff Professional Development Committee (ASPDC) Outstanding Contributor Award, 2007
AAUP-AFT Service: Secretary, AAUP-AFT, Local 6075 Executive Board, 2015-2017; Chair, Academic Staff Steering Committee (ASSC), May-November 2008; Secretary, ASSC, 2006-2008; Newsletter Editor, ASSC, 2006-2008
Other University Service: EACPHS Representative, Academic Senate, 2011-2013, 2014-2018; Member-At-Large, Academic Senate, 2013-2014; Student Affairs Subcommittee, Academic Senate, 2011-2015; Academic Staff Tenure and Promotion Committee, 2014-2015; Academic Staff Mentor, 2014-present; Inaugural Academic Advising Council (AAC) Steering Committee, November 2013-2014; University Sabbatical Committee, 2013; Training Subcommittee of Advising Council, 2012-2013; Student Survey Project Team, 2012-present; Article XXIV Standing Panel, 2012-2013; University Major Change Project Team, 2011-present; Academic Staff Hearing Panel, 2009-2012; Advising Council, 2008-2013
Statement: I have been an Academic Services Officer at WSU since 2005, and am currently in the Office of Student Affairs, in the Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. My career at WSU and two other institutions has consisted of involvement in and dedication to the pursuit of higher education. The role the Union plays in the function of the University is critical, from safeguarding access to higher education, to protecting the rights of and retaining opportunity for faculty, staff, and students. I have served this organization well as Secretary for the last two years, and would like to continue to do so, as it has become even more important in the current political climate when many of our hard-won rights are threatened.
Running for Member-At-Large
LINDA M. BEALE
Professor of Law, Director of Graduate Studies, Wayne Law
Educational Background (Degrees/Awards): Bachelor of Sciences, Chemistry, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, General Motors Scholar, Math Honorary Society, Music Honorary Society, Duke University, 1968; Master of Arts, Linguistics, Cornell University, 1974; Doctor of Philosophy, Linguistics, Herbert Lehman Fellow, Cornell University, 1978; Doctor of Jurisprudence, summa cum laude, Order of the Coif, Boardman Prize, Cornell Law Review, American Jurisprudence Awards (8, including Federal Courts, Conflict of Laws and Criminal Justice), Cornell Law School, 1994; Master of Laws in Taxation, New York University Law School, 2001
Academic Experience: Associate Professor of Law, Wayne Law, 2006-2013; Visiting Associate Professor, Boston College Law School, 2008; Associate Professor and Richard W. and Marie L. Corman Scholar, University of Illinois College of Law, 2004-2006; Visiting Lecturer, Anglo-American Law Program, Universidad Católica, Lisbon Portugal, May 2006; Assistant Professor, University of Illinois College of Law, 2001-2004; Teaching Assistant, Cornell Law School, 1992; Executive Assistant to the President and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Linguistics, Binghamton University, 1983-1991; Visiting Assistant Professor of Spanish and Linguistics, Temple University, 1981. I have numerous publications in academic and practice journals, as well as conference and symposium presentations and speeches, including a major corporate tax text and teachers' manual (2012), and a forthcoming publication in a book on feminist judgments in tax law (2017)
Grants: Stuart N. Greenberger Endowment for Research in Professional Responsibility, University of Illinois, 2005-2006; Izumi Fund Grant, Wayne State University, 2007
Union Experience: Negotiating Team Member, American Association of University Professors-American Federation of Teachers (AAUP-AFT), Local 6075, Wayne State University Chapter, Fall 2011-Winter 2013; AAUP-AFT Council Representative for Law School, 2010-present; Participant, AAUP Summer Institute, 2015; Wayne Law Budget Advisory Committee (Union-elected committee), 2006-present (Chair 2006-2009); Wayne Law Salary Committee (Union elected committee), 2006-2013; Active participant in various University committees and organizing activities, including Communications and Parking
Legal Experience: Associate, Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton, New York, NY, and Washington, DC, 1995-2001; Law Clerk, Hon. D.W. Nelson, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Pasadena, CA, 1994-1995; Summer Associate, Perkins Coie, Seattle, WA, 1994, and Cleary, Gottlieb, New York, NY, 1993; Teaching Assistant, Cornell Law School, 1992; Summer Law Intern, Cornell Legal Aid Clinic, 1992
Other Work Experience: Congressional Staff, Hon. Matthew McHugh (New York), 1982-1983; Peace Corps Volunteer, Colombia, South America, 1968-1970
Professional Affiliations: American Association of Law Schools, 2001-present; American Bar Association Tax Section, 1996-present, in various capacities, including current Vice Chair of Publications, and Editor, ABA Tax Times; Chair and Vice Chair of Standards of Tax Practice Committee; Tax Force on Patenting of Tax Planning Strategies; Task Force on Individual Alternative Minimum Tax; Corporate Tax Committee; Financial Transactions Committee; Central States Law Schools Association, in various capacities, including Vice President and President; East Central Illinois Women's Attorneys' Association, 2003-2006; Institute of Continuing Legal Education Executive Committee, 2016-present; Law and Society Association, 2005-present; New York State Bar Association, 1996-present, including Executive Committee 2001; New York State Bar Association Committee on Attorney Professionalism, 2005-2006 (NYSBA presidential appointment)
University Service: Board of Governors Budget and Finance Committee Academic Senate Representative 2011-present (Alternate Fall 2011-Fall 2012); Wayne State University Budget Planning Council (2016-present; Wayne State University Graduate Council (2015-present); Wayne State University Information Systems Management Committee (2015-present); Wayne State University Banner Assessment Steering Committee (2016-present); Wayne State University Promotion and Tenure Committee, 2014-2015; Wayne State University Provost's Task Force for Streamlining Processes, 2011; Wayne State University Provost's Blue Ribbon Budget Reduction Committee, 2011; Wayne State University Presidential Search Committee, 2008; Wayne State University Academic Senate Vice Chair, 2016-present; Academic Senate Budget Committee (Chair); Academic Senate Law School Representative, 2011-present; Academic Senate Policy Committee, 2011-present; Academic Senate Ad Hoc Committee for Review of the University's Development Division (Chair and principal report drafter), Fall 2012; Academic Senate Faculty Affairs Committee (member or Policy Committee liaison) 2011-present; Wayne Law Enrollment Management Committee (Chair and primary report drafter), Fall 2007; Wayne Law Strategic Planning Committee; and various other Wayne Law and University-wide committees. I was also a member of the Faculty Senate at Illinois throughout my time there, including serving on the Executive Committee, and serving as Chair of the Statutes Committee that drafted changes to the statutes governing the University of Illinois.
Statement: As my bio demonstrates, I have actively participated in academic governance through the Academic Senate and Union throughout my academic career. The Academic Senate provides a valuable opportunity for faculty and staff dialogue with administrators: I have used my position on the Policy Committee and as Chair of the Budget Committee, as well as my voting position on the Board of Governors Budget and Finance Committee, to push for transparency, consultation, and action on issues that affect our members. The Union is a necessary foundational support for faculty and academic staff at Wayne: it is the primary means by which we uphold academic freedom, ensure due process, and have a voice in determining our conditions of employment. The elected committees in the units (BAC, Salary) provide an important check on administrative action.
As a member of the Union negotiating team for the last Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), I worked with our Chief Negotiator, Anca Vlasopolos, to articulate our concerns, and push the administrative team to recognize the harm that would be caused by the various detenuring provisions they proposed. I played a key role in ensuring that our Union team sharply contested the many attempts of the administrator's chief negotiator, employment attorney Jim Green, to undermine contractual protections. In that process, we learned a great deal about the way administrative perspectives overlook key functions of faculty and staff. As public universities like Wayne become ever more heavily dominated by highly paid administrators, there has been a corresponding lack of commitment to tenured professorships and ESS-protected academic staff positions. Wayne State University's current detenuring actions in the School of Medicine-without the benefit of the mentoring provided in the expansion of Article 24 to ensure that faculty who are not performing up to standard have a process for improvement-are especially worrisome. This trend demonstrates the vital role of Union support to faculty and staff in dealing with problems within units, through grievances when necessary, to secure the protections of academic freedom and decent working conditions including salary, health and disability insurance, and fair treatment across the spectrum of concerns.
As we face a political landscape intent on undermining unions across the nation, it will be necessary for our Chapter's Executive Board to energize and improve its work. First, it must develop a more transparent and informative communication strategy, using various media and easily digestible formats, so that our members are well informed about developments and what they can do to fight for justice. Second, it must put in place appropriate long-term planning strategies and initiate activities that move those strategies consistently and transparently towards fruition. This includes various changes to the way the Union operates, including (i) mentoring of a new generation of Union leadership; (ii) sharing information, while protecting confidentiality, about grievances and their outcomes; (iii) initiating planning for the next CBA negotiation, well before the time for negotiation to begin, and taking into consideration potential state or national restrictions; (iv) honing plans for expanding and organizing our membership; (v) ensuring appropriate implementation of CBA provisions (such as the requirements for 5-year reviews of Schools and Colleges (and their deans) and for unit elections of Budget Advisory and Salary Committees); and (vi) creating activist pathways suitable for our diverse members to have a role in shaping Wayne State University's development, and the Michigan and national legislative agendas. I hope that you will give me the opportunity to serve you in this work.
DONAL S. O'LEARY, Ph.D.
Professor, Director of Cardiovascular Research, Department of Physiology, School of Medicine
Degrees: Ph.D., University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX; Postdoctoral Fellowship, Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; Assistant Professor, Wayne State University, School of Medicine, 1989; Associate Professor with Tenure, 1994; Full Professor, 1999; Director of Cardiovascular Research, 2000; Research: Neural control of cardiovascular function in health and disease (heart failure, hypertension); Continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) since 1991, 2 current RO1 Grants from NIH; Fellow, Cardiovascular Section, The American Physiological Society
Awards (Teaching): President's Award for Excellence in Teaching; Six-time winner of the School of Medicine College Teaching Award
Awards (Research): President's Research Career Chair Award; Board of Governors Distinguished Faculty Fellowship Award; Charles Gershenson Distinguished Faculty Fellowship Award; Twice awarded School of Medicine Research Excellence Award; Dean's Outstanding Research Achievement Award
Service (National): NIH Study Section Clinical and Integrative Cardiovascular Science, Consulting Editor, American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulatory Physiology; Editorial Board, Journal of Applied Physiology, American Journal of Physiology: Heart and Circulatory Physiology
Service (Local): Chair, School of Medicine Executive Committee; School of Medicine Research Development Committee; President's Research Incentives Task Force; President's Fringe Benefit Task Force; President's Budget Advisory Board; Former Vice-Chair, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee; Departmental Promotions and Tenure, Salary, Budget, and Research Committees; Elected to the Board of Councilors; Standing Member (Member-at-Large), AAUP-AFT, Local 6075 Executive Board, 2015-present
Statement: As a member of both the AAUP-AFT Executive Board, and the School of Medicine Executive Committee for the past 2 years, I have worked to improve communication between the School of Medicine Faculty and the Union to protect tenure. Our system of tenure is under attack by the Administration, and these attacks are rapidly spreading to the rest of the University. In the last year, the Dean of the School of Medicine demanded that the criteria for Promotions and Tenure be modified to include an arbitrary requirement for 25% of all salary be covered on external grants. I successfully led the fight against this demand, by documenting that NONE of our peer institutions have such a stringent metric in Promotion & Tenure requirements. This research had not been done by the Administration on what was normal and customary at other institutions prior to making this demand. Our Dean continues to blame much of the School of Medicine's financial problems on the Faculty, rather than the massive failures by the Administration. It is up to the Faculty and the Union to prevent implementation of poor policies by the Administration. We provide the institutional memory to maintain the integrity of our University and our voices will be heard.
CLAY WALKER
Lecturer, Department of English, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Academic Background: Lecturer, 2013-present; PhD, Rhetoric and Composition, Wayne State University; MA, Rhetoric and Composition, Wayne State University; BA, Literature, Eastern Michigan University
Other University Appointments: Instructor of English, Tiffin University, 2011-2013. My research interests include literacy teaching and learning, language and cognition, and the writing of Cesar Chavez.
Statement: Our Union will face a difficult political climate in the next few years. As your Representative, I will advocate for attention to the diverse needs of our multifaceted faculty and staff groups as we lay the groundwork for contract negotiations. In order to preserve the Union's strength, we need to enhance our communication and collaboration with the various faculty and staff groups that constitute our Union. While we've made progress to this end in the last couple of years, more work is needed to protect our collective interests in providing high quality research and education for our students and communities.
