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WA budget-balancing plan spreads deficit pain
Higher education would see a net reduction of about $68 million, while early learning and child care programs would be reduced by about $11.5 million from expected spending levels. | Seattle Times, April 13, 2010
 
WA lawmakers pass budget, adjourn special session
…The new operating budget approved Monday night makes changes to the two-year spending plan lawmakers approved in 2009. Spending was driven by higher costs for current programs and added policies, including payments to property-poor school districts and additional worker retraining at community and technical colleges.

Listen to Pierce College student and instructors about the cuts to higher education

Listen to Hilda, an ESL student whose classes were cut

Watch a video on YouTube of Hilda, a student whose ESL classes have been cut due to the state budget crisis.

 

AFT Washington Receives National Award for FACE

Our state was recognized by AFT at their 80th annual convention in Chicago this July for our leadership on the Faculty and College Excellence (FACE) Campaign (read more).

 

In case you didin't know, two of our members are regular contributors to the AFT FACE Blog, Phil Ray Jack from Green River CC and Lila Harper from Central Washington University. Here are their recent entries:

Dropping Dead: A Contingent Faculty Member's Retirement Plan by Lila Harper

A New Beginning by Phil Ray Jack

more

Inside Higher Ed | June 17, 2008 | Waiting 20 Years for the Tenure Track

By Phil Ray Jack

This summer, many of those fresh out of graduate school are preparing to begin their teaching careers. A fortunate few have already been hired to fill tenure-track positions, but many will find themselves on the unexpected and convoluted pathway of “contingent faculty.” With 70 percent or more of college classes taught by part-time faculty, the opportunities for full-time careers are rare. Many will accept part-time teaching assignments with the hope that it will build their résumés and be a step closer to the tenure track. At least that was what I thought when I accepted my first part-time teaching assignment. For me, when I was recently offered a full-time, tenure-track position as an English composition instructor at Green River Community College, it was the end of a 20-year journey.  [Read the full article]

"The Myth of the Tenured Faculty," March/April 2007 AFT On Campus

by Barbara McKenna


Kathleen Lopez comes from a family of teachers. Her mother was an adjunct professor until she retired two years ago at the age of 82. Her daughter has a doctorate and is headed down an education path. Lopez hopes her daughter's degree will lead her through the hallowed hallways of academe, not along the asphalt roadways that have marked Lopez's teacher career. [read more]


Special note: Article features our faculty and work in Olympia on the Faculty and College Excellence Act: Phil Jack and Robin Etheridge.