| 2026 |
| Monday, March 23rd |
|
9:00 AM
|
Welcome
Nancy Cantor, President, Hunter College
William A. Herbert, Executive Director, National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions, Hunter College, CUNY
Proshansky Auditorium
9:00 AM - 9:10 AM
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|
9:10 AM
|
Keynote Presentation: Academic Freedom Depends on the Ecosystems of Freedoms
Michael S. Roth, President, Wesleyan University
Proshansky Auditorium
9:10 AM - 10:30 AM
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|
11:00 AM
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Community College Meet-up and Brainstorming Session
National Center
C197
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
|
| 11:00 AM |
Panel: Bargaining over AI at 4-Year Institutions
Thomas H. Riley Jr., Executive Director of Labor and Special Counsel, University of Illinois System
Meredith Kahn, Librarian, University of Michigan
Jocelyn Krause, Collective Bargaining, Journalism Department, Writers Guild of America East
Alex Bernstein, University Executive Director of Instructional Staff Labor Relations, CUNY Office of Labor Relations
Arthur Pearlstein, Arbitrator and Mediator, Moderator
C204-205
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
|
| 11:00 AM |
Panel: Status of Litigation in Defense of Democracy (CLE)
David D. Cole, Professor in Law and Public Policy, Georgetown Law School and former National Legal Advisory, ACLU
Will Creeley, Legal Director, FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression)
Alex Abdo, Litigation Director, Knigth First Amendment Institute at Columbia University
Rabia Muqaddam, Chief Counsel for Federal Initiatives, Office of the New York State Attorney, Moderator
Proshansky Auditorium
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
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| 11:00 AM |
Panel: Union Leaders of Color Transforming Higher Education and Centering Democracy
María del Mar Rosa Rodriguez, Professor, Universidad de Puerto Rico, President, Asociación Pertorriqueña de Profesores Universitarios (APPU)
Charles Toombs, Professor, San Diego State University, Immediate Past President, CFA
Michelle Ramos Pellicia, Professor, California State University, San Marcos, VP, CFA
Tracey Salisbury, Associate Professor, California State University, Bakersfield, Associate VP, South, CFA
Margarita Berta-Avila, Professor, Sacramento State University, President, CFA, Moderator
C201-202
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
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| 11:00 AM |
Research Panel: Postdocs, Sexual Harassment, and Collective Bargaining: Intersections and Issues
Kait Spear, Program Officer, Natiknoal Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Andrea Joseph, Assistant Professor, Biomedical and Chemical Engineering, Syracuse University
Anna Yoney, Associate Research Scientist, Department of Genetics & Development, Columbia University
Karen R. Stubaus, Labor Relations Strategist & Special Advisor, University of Michigan, Moderator
C198
11:00 AM - 12:30 PM
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|
1:30 PM
|
Interactive Workshop: Negotiating over Academic Freedom Clauses
Bethany Gizzi, President, Monroe Community College Faculty Association
Joseph McConnell, Morgan, Brown & Joy LLP
Timothy S. Taylor, Arbitrator & Mediator
Kathy Sheffield, Director, Representation and Bargaining, CFA, Moderator
C201-202
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
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| 1:30 PM |
Panel: Community College Perspectives on AI Policy and Codified Teaching Practice: Faculty and Administrator Views, Liability Implications, and Impacts at the Bargaining Table
Andre´ L. Poplar, Vice Chancellor, Human Resources, Oakland Community College
Cameron Redden, Chief Administrative Officer, Brunswick University Center, Cuyahoga Community College
Deborah H. Williams, Professor, Johnson County Community College, Former JCCC Faculty Association President/Lead Negotiator
Eric Rader, Higher Ed Policy and Program Council and AI Task Force, AFT, President, Henry Ford Community College AFT
Martin Balinsky, Professor, Florida-Tallahassee State College, President, UFF-FTSC, Moderator
C204-205
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
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| 1:30 PM |
Panel: Litigation Landscape Affecting Higher Education and Administrative Remedies in Defense of Federal Research Funding (CLE)
Amanda Fuchs Miller, President, Seventh Street Strategies
Rachel Homer, Director of Democracy 2025 and Senior Attorney, Democracy Forward
Adelaide Pagano, Assistant Attorney General, Consumer Protection Division, Office of Massachusetts Attorney General
Jessica Alvarez, General Counsel, Hunter College, CUNY, Moderator
Proshansky Auditorium
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
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| 1:30 PM |
Panel: Turnover the Other Cheek: Challenges to Collective Bargaining for Graduate Assistants
Cassandra "Cassie" Urbenz, President, Graduate Assistants United and NEA Graduate Committee, University of Florida
Tessa Barber, President, Graduate Assistants United, NEA Graduate Committee, University of South Florida and VP, United Faculty of Florida, GAU Bargaining Council
Michael Eagen, Vice Provost, Academic Human Resources, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Joshua D. Nadreau, Fisher & Phillips LLP
Rebecca S. Natow, Associate Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy, Hofstra University, Moderator
C197
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
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| 1:30 PM |
Research Panel: Equity at Work? Gender, Parenthood, and Benefits in Higher Education
Rhiannon M. Maton, Associate Professor, SUNY Cortland, Affiliated Researcher, National Center
Carrie Rohman, Professor, Lafayette College, Editor, SUNY Press (2025)
Eve Weinbaum, Professor, UMass Amherst, President MSP/MTA
Elza Recthman, Postdoctoral Researcher, Mount Sinai, Bargaining Committee, SPOC-UAW
Shirley Lin, Associate Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School, Moderator
C198
1:30 PM - 3:00 PM
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|
3:30 PM
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Interactive Workshop: Stop the War on Immigrants: Strategies to Support Undocumented and International Students, Faculty, and Staff
Diego N. Sánchez, Vice President of Policy and Strategy, Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration
Stacy Hickox, Staff Counsel, National Education Association
Andrea Vásquez, Secretary, Professional Staff Congress-CUNY
Cassandra "Cassie" Urbenz, President, Graduate Assistants United and NEA Graduate Committee, University of Florida
Ashwini Sukthankar, Affiliated Researcher, National Center, Moderator
C198
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
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| 3:30 PM |
Panel: Book Discussion: Library Workers as Defenders of Democracy: Organize Your Library! Developing the Collective Power of Library Workers (Critical Cultural Information Studies series), ALA Editions, 2025
Emily Drabinski, Associate Professor, School of Informatino Studies, Queens College, CUNY
Kelly McElroy, Librarian and Associate Professor, Oregon State University
Angelo Moreno, Union Organizer, Chicago
Maura Smale, Executive Chief Librarian, CUNY Graduate Center
Meredith Kahn, Librarian, University of Michigan, Moderator
C197
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
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| 3:30 PM |
Panel: Creative Responses to Persistent Inequities of Contingent Labor in Community Colleges
Christine Mangino, President, Queensborough Community College, CUNY
Jennifer Shanoski, Faculty, Merritt College
Wendy Brill-Wynkoop, Past President, Faculty Association of the California Community Colleges
Colena Sesanker, Chair, Faculty Advisory Committee, Board of Regents for Higher Education, Connecticut State Community Colleges
Robin G. Isserles, Faculty, BMCC, CUNY, Discussant and Moderator
C204-205
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
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| 3:30 PM |
Panel: Florida - Fighting to Defend Collective Bargaining and Democracy in a Red State
Adam Bellotti, Bredhoff & Kaiser, PLLC
Allison Clarke, Service Unit Director, United Faculty of Florida
Alex Ledgerwood, Service Unit Director, United Faculty of Florida
Adela Ghadimi, Executive Director, United Faculty of Florida, Moderator
C201-202
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
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| 3:30 PM |
Panel: Massachusetts DRIVE Initiative: State Funding for Higher Education Research
Quentin Palfrey, Massachusetts Director of Federal Funds and Infrastructure, Office of Governor Maura Healey
Max Page, President, Massachusetts Teachers Association
Viviann Anguiano, Managing Director, Higher Education Policy, Center for American Progress
Frederick G. Floss, Professor and Co-Director, Center for Economic Education, Buffalo State University, Moderator
Proshansky Auditorium
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
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