The National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions (National Center) is housed in and supported by Hunter College, City University of New York and by its five hundred institutional and individual members.
Since 1972, the National Center has served as a national labor-management center dedicated to studying the use of collective bargaining as an important means for advancing higher education and the working conditions of faculty and staff in colleges and universities. We believe that the study of collective bargaining is essential for a knowledge-based dialogue concerning labor-management and educational issues, and is critically important for reasoned societal debate that will lead to social progress.
The National Center is comprised of labor and management professionals, practitioners, and scholars interested in studying contemporary and historical labor-management issues, best practices in collective bargaining, legal and legislative developments, and public support for higher education. It provides a clearinghouse and forum for scholarly research and ideas concerning labor relations, collective bargaining and labor law issues related to higher education.
As part of its mission, the Center hosts an annual conference and publishes a journal and other publications that offer unique insights into current issues and trends in collective bargaining. University administrators and union leaders collaborate in all of the National Center's activities which include an annual national conference, publications (the Directory of Faculty Contracts and Bargaining Agents; the national conference Proceedings; the Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy; the National Center E-Note), and regional seminars and training sessions.
The Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy, edited by Dr. Jeff Cross, has been hosted by Eastern Illinois University for over 10 years. In keeping with this collaboration, the National Center conference site is also hosted by EIU's institutional repository The Keep.