We thank the speakers, moderators, and conference attendees for a very successful 51st Annual Conference of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions.

The theme of the annual conference was New Crossroads in Collective Bargaining and Labor Relations in Higher Education and the Professions. The program was designed to touch upon issues that impact everyone who works in higher education.

The success of the conference would not have been possible without the support and assistance of Hunter College Interim President Kirschner, our Board of Advisors, along with the staff of Roosevelt House, the CUNY Graduate Center, and conference staff and volunteers. We also thank the sponsors of the conference along with the unions, businesses, institutions, and law firms that purchased advertisements in our conference program.

The Full Conference Program.

Below are links to video recordings of certain presentations at the National Center's 51st Annual National Conference.  We thank Alexandra Lacey of Persuasion Pictures for recording and producing the videos.

Keynote Presentation by Thomas A. Kochan, George Maverick Bunker Professor of Management, Emeritus, MIT Sloan School of Management. With introduction by Adrienne Eaton, Dean, Office of the Dean and Distinguished Professor, Labor Studies and Employment Relations (LSER), Rutgers University.

Panel: Navigating Generative AI in Higher Education: Implications for Collective Bargaining, Pedagogy, and Research with Kyle Arnone, AFT Collective Bargaining Center, Anthony G. Picciano, Professor, Hunter College, School of Education and CUNY Graduate Center, Amanda M. Blair, Associate, Fisher & Phillips LLP, and Rob Weill, AFT Director of Policy, Research and Field Services, Panelist and Moderator.

Book Discussion: Contingent Faculty and the Remaking of Higher Education: A Labor History with Gwendolyn Alker, Associate Arts Professor, Department of Drama, New York University, Joe T. Berry, Ph.D., City College of San Francisco and University of Illinois (retired), COCAL, HELU, Anne McLeer, Director of Higher Education and Strategic Planning, SEIU Local 500, Gary Rhoades, Professor and Director, Center for the Study of Higher Education, University of Arizona, Commentator, and Eric Fure-Slocum, Associate Professor of History (Emeritus), co-editor of Contingent Faculty and the Remaking of Higher Education, Moderator.

Panel: Best Practices in Collective Negotiations with Pamela Silverblatt, Senior Counsel, Bond, Schoeneck & King PLLC, John Gross, Ingerman Smith LLP, Frederick Floss, Professor, Economics and Finance, and Co-Director, Center for Economic Education, SUNY Buffalo State University, Elizabeth Vignaux, Labor Relations Specialist, NYSUT, and Scott M. Sommer, Commissioner, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, Moderator.

Panel: Best Practices in Arbitration with Homer LaRue, Labor Arbitrator, Mediator, and Professor, Howard University Law School, Marlene Gold, Labor Arbitrator, Mark Gaston Pearce, Labor Arbitrator, Visiting Professor and Executive Director, Workers’ Rights Institute, Georgetown University Law School, and Katie Rosen, Labor Arbitrator. Co-sponsored by the National Academy of Arbitrators.

Book Discussion: The Costs of Completion: Student Success in Community College with Robin G. Isserles, Author, The Costs of Completion: Student Success in Community College, Professor of Sociology, Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY, and Grievance Counselor for Full-time Faculty, PSC BMCC Chapter, Christine Mangino, President, Queensborough Community College, CUNY, Wendy Brill-Wynkoop, President, Faculty Association of California Community Colleges, Colena Sesanker, Associate Professor, Philosophy, Gateway Community College, CT, Member of Board of Regents of CSCU, and Jennifer Shanoski, Chemistry, Merritt College, Oakland California, Moderator.

Panel: Trustees’ Perspectives on Collective Bargaining with Susan Solomon, City College of San Francisco Trustee, Todd J. Regis, Central Michigan University Trustee, Paul Brown, University of Michigan Board of Regents, and Kenneth M. Mash, President, APSCUF, Moderator.

Panel: Bargaining Issues For Classified, Clerical, and Other Campus Staff with Sarah Wofford, AFT Vice President, Oregon School Employees Association, Christine O'Connell, President, Union of Rutgers Administrators AFT Local 1766, Rainah Chambliss, Co-President of the Faculty and Staff Federation of Community College of Philadelphia, and Andre’ Poplar, Vice Chancellor – Human Resources and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Justice, Oakland Community College – District, Moderator.

51st Annual National Conference Sponsors