Fall 2021 - Welcome Back Message
Hallo Members,
welcome back! The Fall Semester 2021 is upon us and we are adjusting to a different normal. Many of us are back on campus and in the classroom, excited and perhaps a bit nervous. Some of us have remained virtual for our teaching, but are just as excited to be back. This academic year is bringing a lot of changes with it.
This is also true for EMUFT. We have been busy this summer. If you followed along with the newsletters since June, you know that we have worked to establish a long-term strategic plan. This was approved by the Membership Council on August 20, 2021. Major goals for EMUFT this year are increased membership engagement and mobilization to ready us for the Compensation Reopeners in the summer of 2021. To that effect, we are excited to announce the Respect Lecturers Campaign in this newsletter.
This past month we have been engaged in bargaining with EMU Administration over health and safety concerns regarding EMU's reopening plans. Read more about our messaging with Administration as well as some details about classroom mask enforcement policies.
We are excited for this year! Welcome back.
Your EMUFT Union Council
Daric Thorne, President
Anke Wolbert, Vice-President
Jeremy Proulx, Grievance Officer
Laura Zimmerman, Secretary
Tony Kurek, Treasurer
Upcoming Events
EMUFT Orientation
Have you wondered what EMUFT is about? Are you relatively new to EMU and know little about your union? If you said 'yes' to either of these questions, then the EMUFT Orientation meeting is the event for you to get answers.
We are inviting you to a virtual orientation meeting on Friday, September 3, 2021 at 11am.
Click for Event Details and Registration
In this meeting we will talk about what EMUFT is and does, how you become a member and why you should become a member. We will share an orientation welcome packet with you that will provide you with access to resources curated by members to help you be successful teaching at EMU!
Campus Resources and Social Media Survey
This week a survey was sent out from the Communications Committee regarding a project we've been working on this summer: putting together a “Welcome Basket” for new lecturers (as well as gathering additional resources for our current lecturers) to include resources we think will be helpful for lecturers for developing lessons, teaching courses, and helping their students. Actually, we want to include ANYTHING that may be helpful to teach at EMU or would be beneficial to our members. We would like you to contribute your ideas to our survey: think back to when you were a new lecturer at EMU. What do you wish you knew then that you know now? Are there any resources you think folks might not be aware of? Share your knowledge! In addition, we are also surveying our members about their preferred social media platforms and the content we post there, so there will be a few questions about social media preferences and feedback as well.
AFT Training - Member Organizing Institute
The Member Organizing Institute (MOI) is a jointly funded program of the AFT, AFT Michigan, and local unions. This program capitalizes on one of our most valuable resources, you - our members, to help build union power and activism. Over the past several years, dozens of organizing fellows have had hundreds of conversations, building stronger locals across the state. AFT Michigan has developed two fellowship programs under the banner of the MOI in which members build the organizing capacity of EMUFT by having 1-on-1 conversations with their colleagues (Member Organizing Fellows) or maintaining the database that tracks such organizing activity (Data Fellows). Fellows enter the program in September or January of each year and both fellowships are compensated.
If you enjoy having conversations with your colleagues about issue related to EMU, consider becoming an MOI fellow. If data and the maintenance of data bases excites, the Data Fellowship might be for you.
If interested please contact us at emuft9102@gmail.com or emuftvicepresident@gmail.com
Additionally, AFT Michigan offers a wide variety of Union Building Training. Check out the Calendar and Workshop Catalogue
News
Fall Reopening/COVID Protocols
As many of you are aware, we have been trying for several weeks to ascertain clear information and guidelines for instructor use from the Administration as to their COVID mitigation protocols. The information shared here is in addition to the protocols listed on EMU's Safe-Return-To-Campus Plan and is to the best of our knowledge as of today. We specifically asked about this information on at least two separate occasions and have been assured verbally twice that this is the proper protocol to follow:
We were told, repeatedly, that, in theory, few students in your classes should have a mask exemption as students who cannot wear masks have been encouraged to take online classes only. Again, we asked explicitly about this - twice! And we were told, explicitly - also twice - that we will not have students with mask exemptions in our classes. As we understand it now, you might have students in your classes who have legitimate mask exemptions. Students will have a letter from the Disability Resources Center (DRC) confirming the exemption.
We were explicitly and repeatedly told that should you encounter a student in your class who refuses to wear their mask or not properly (covering mouth AND nose) despite being asked to and who does not have a legitime exemption, you have the authority to adjourn class. In this type of incidence, you need to contact your Department Head/School Director as well as the Office of Wellness and Community Responsibility (WCR) using the following Incident Report link. The WCR will then assess which disciplinary action to take. You should NOT call DPS. This information was verfied by Academic HR on August 30 in a communication to Department Heads/School Directors.
We had hoped to have more questions answered at this point and will continue to keep you informed as soon as we find out more.
Check out the New EMUFT.org!
Over this past summer, we gave the EMUFT website a complete make-over. On it you can find everything you need to know about EMUFT: contact information for your Union Council Officers and Department Stewards, links to the PTL and FTL contracts, information about our various committees as well as how to become a member. However, we are really excited for members to explore the "Resources" tab: here you will find the engagement toolkit, access a large variety of campus resources our members have curated, and the newly created "Know you Contract" section giving you "cheat-sheet" for our contracts.
Come and check out this exciting new resource!
Respect Lecturers Campaign
Eastern Michigan University has always relied on highly qualified and dedicated lecturers. With recent decreases in tenured and tenure-track faculty, EMU’s reliance on lecturers only increases. Yet this increased reliance has come neither with increased pay equity, nor with job security, nor with any voice on matters that affect our working conditions.
Recent events surrounding EMU's COVID mitigation protocols are case in point: Rather than responding to the reasonable questions and concerns you have and that EMUFT Leadership shared with Administration on your behalf, it was insinuated that we are participating in misinformation. This lack of transparency and the lack of inclusion have to stop!
EMUFT is announcing the begin of the RESPECT LECTURERS Campaign.
In the coming weeks and months, we will reach out to each and every one of you to get your thoughts. We want to know how you feel about pay equity, job security and input processes. Would you want to be full-time vs part-time? Do you have opportunities in your department to share your insights and expertise in the development of curriculum? Do you get to choose the materials used in your classrooms (e.g., textbooks)?
Administration has always claimed to value and respect the work lecturers do; it’s time for them to demonstrate this.
We are fighting for Equal Pay, Job Security and to make our voices heard
Member Spotlights
Diane Fenske
Title: Part-Time Lecturer, School of Social Work
Years @ EMU: 7.5 years
Why Did You Become an Educator? I had been in healthcare in hospital social work management for 30+ years. I had a number of excellent opportunities to lead hospital-wide initiatives at four health systems, educate employee groups, and give community presentations. These events and connections helped me realize I really enjoyed educating others and was comfortable being in front of an audience. Several individuals from the School of Social Work invited me to speak to their classes and being invited to become part of the department and EMU came after.
Favorite Class You Teach @ EMU: I enjoy all the classes I teach at EMU. A particular favorite is Women and Aging, which typically includes students from Social Work, Women & Gender Studies, Aging Studies program, etc. It’s become a great opportunity to talk with students about practical aspects of being an aging/maturing woman in our society – not focusing entirely on theories and studies. I equally enjoy IHHS 260/261 which I team-teach with 3-4 faculty partners. This class is a life course retrospective, beginning with aging and progressing to infants. The students are pre-majors from nursing, social work, dietetics, etc. and we work with them on interdisciplinary education. I worked with these teams in hospitals, and helping future health care providers understand this essential aspect of care is near-and-dear to my heart.
What Is Something You Enjoy About EMU? The students are open to learning and collaborating in so many instances, which rewards me. I truly appreciate how generous the faculty of the SSW are with each other. Course work, syllabi, readings, ideas for assignments, etc. are readily shared without hesitation. I know this doesn’t happen at all universities and in every department. I have really enjoyed invitations to guest lecture in Nursing at EMU, and within the SSW.
What Do You Do Outside of EMU? I recently ‘retired’ from nine years of volunteering with the Hoarding Task Force of Washtenaw County. I learned so much about hoarding disorder from other task force members, and from the clients themselves. One of my roles was to present community education, which fit perfectly for me. I’m also active in my condominium community and church. I retired from full-time employment in health care 7 years ago.
Surprising Facts About You: I was a nurse in the Surgical ICU at St. Joe’s in Ann Arbor for 12 years, prior to completing my BSW degree at EMU, and MSW at Wayne State. I realized as time went by, that I enjoyed talking with the patients and their families more than I enjoyed doing their physical care. Social Work became the logical next step for me, and I’ve never regretted combining these careers.
Aunmar Mohamed
Title: Lecturer
Years at EMU: 10 years this fall semester
Why Did You Become An Educator? I have always had a knack for teaching and training people. I enjoyed it so much I decided to teach professionally. I also found one of the best ways to learn something is to understand it well enough to teach people on the topic.
Favorite Class You Teach @ EMU: My favorite course to teach is SAG 355 Camera’s and Lighting. It combines all elements of Computer-Generated Images (CGI) to create digital artwork.
What Is Something You Enjoy About EMU? Over the past 10 years, it has been amazing to the EMU campus improve the building and infrastructure. It’s always great to see those types or improvements over time.
What Do You Do Outside of EMU?
I work professionally in the automotive industry as a Visualization Specialist with Ford.
Surprising Facts About You:
I have a growing YouTube channel that I started when everything switched over from in-person to remote during the pandemic. It’s a free learning resource I use for my courses and for anyone to learn Computer Generated Images (CGI) and Real-Time 3D Graphics. You can check out my channel here: https://youtube.com/c/onmars3d
Engagement Toolkit
Syllabus Logo
Most students believe that all their instructors are tenure/tenure-track faculty. Often, they have little knowledge of the discrepancy in working conditions or the income disparity.
Include a syllabus logo from EMUFT on your syllabus and engage your students in a conversation about the roles of lecturers at EMU, or the relevance and importance of unions in today's society.
Know Your Contract
Are you saving for retirement?
Have you been thinking about saving for retirement, but don’t know where to begin? EMU offers voluntary 403(b) and 457(b) plans for faculty and staff. These savings plans can be changed at any time, as they are not part of open enrollment. Find more information here entailing how to enroll, view, or make changes to your plan and more information comparing both plans. If you have questions, contact the benefits office at 734-487-3430.