PSU-AAUP Leadership Transition

Dear Colleagues,
After three years of service to AAUP as your President and fifteen years in service to PSU, I will be stepping away from the Presidency and from my tenured position as Urban & Public Affairs Librarian as of May 1, 2025. I will be starting a new position at a non-profit organization that supports the open science movement. 

The PSU-AAUP Executive Committee– codified in the PSU-AAUP Constitution and which consists of the offices of the Vice Presidents, Secretary, and Treasurer– will be serving as a leadership bridge until a call for nominations and subsequent election can be held. PSU-AAUP’s Executive Council is committed to leading PSU-AAUP during this transition, and conversations are ongoing about recruitment and nominations. 

When I came to PSU I immediately became a union member because I believed, and still do, that the power of PSU-AAUP was to fight for meaningful and robust shared governance practices, just wages and working conditions, dignity and respect in the workplace, and to uplift the voices of and empower on-the-ground workers who support our students every day. 

In 2014– amidst an environment where Administrative austerity narratives and Administration’s desire to gut our collective bargaining agreement of long-standing language that bolstered shared governance– a supermajority of members voted to strike. After this strike vote Administration came to their senses and settled a fair contract. PSU-AAUP was not forced to go on strike. 

We are at a parallel critical moment. We are facing Administration’s push to cut programs and jobs while ignoring shared governance procedures that are mandated to be followed by our collective bargaining agreement. All the while Administration remains intransigent about core contractual issues. After over 100 hours the bargaining team was at the table, mediation was called for -and despite over 70 hours additional hours with a state mediator- Administration refused to give us the layoff protections, recall rights, and shared governance respect we deserve. At the same time seventeen of our colleagues have received termination notices and might lose their jobs in June. Administration may lay off more workers– including tenured faculty members– during the next two academic years. 

Administration is rejecting our proposals for meaningful and annual salary progression for Academic Professionals, our most poorly compensated workers whose work is overburdened by chronic understaffing and high turnover and burnout rates. These workers are those who recruit students to enroll in PSU, advise students academically, support student activities, and contribute to a thriving campus life. We are also witnessing an unprecedented number of PSU employees actively seeking to leave their PSU employment, as was reported at the February Faculty Senate meeting (view minutes 18:50-40:19 for the Work Re-entry Report). When Administrations and Boards refuse to invest in their workers, the entire organization suffers, and they perpetuate a downward spiral for the institution. 

We can reverse these decisions. Our collective power can engineer a contract that offers us the COLAs we need, layoff protections that respect our service to the University, salary increases for APs, and more. It is critical that each and every one of us sign our strike pledges and take ownership of our union’s success. Tell your colleagues to do the same. 

It is only when we all do the work that we will win the contract we need. When we have the working conditions we need, students have the learning conditions that they deserve.

It has been the honor of my career to serve as your President. 

In Solidarity,

Emily, PSU-AAUP President