Happy New Year: May this year be a bit better than the last!
First, AAUP-UC President Connie Kendall Theado is on academic leave this semester. So you may be getting a few communications from me in the interim. Connie will be back after the spring semester.
Most importantly, AAUP-UC will be hosting a Faculty Town Hall meeting on Thursday, January 14th at 12:15 p.m. via Zoom. The Zoom invitation will be sent next week. The purpose of the meeting is to further discuss the AAUP-UC-Faculty Senate Joint Budget Report and next steps for the fall semester. The Faculty Senate will be meeting later that same day. Faculty are encouraged to attend both meetings.
In other news, the Administration recently announced that it was establishing a paid parental leave benefit for UC employees who are not represented by a union (unrepresented employees). In 2013 AAUP-UC was the first UC union to negotiate a paid parental leave policy. You should be very proud that AAUP-UC was able to raise the bar; now more UC employees are able to take advantage of this important benefit.
Finally, the AAUP-UC staff is facing a significantly heavier than usual workload. If you need assistance on a contractual issue, it is recommended that you contact the Associate Council member in your college as an initial step. If you need to contact a staff member, email the office at aaupuc1@ucmail.uc.edu. This will ensure that your contact is tracked and responded to in a timely manner.
Phoebe Reeves
Vice President, AAUP-UC