AAUP Summer Institutes Provide Resources on Policy, Strategy, Organizing, and Leadership
The four-day 2018 AAUP Summer Institute will take place at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, NH from July 19–22. Registration for the event continues through June 29, 2018 on the AAUP website, so there's still time to sign up.
Some of the highlights from this year's Summer Institute include workshops on arbitration, chapter recruitment, working towards policy change, issue organizing and advocacy, addressing donor influence, strategic planning, understanding institutional finances, establishing principles of shared governance, defending at-will and adjunct faculty, and successful bargaining.
Dr. David Bruzina, VP of USC-Aiken's chapter of the AAUP, attended the 2017 AAUP Summer Institute, held at the University of Cincinnati, and said that the institute was an "eye-opener." Dr. Bruzina is signed up to attend the 2018 Summer Institute and states that he plans "to keep attending for the forseeable future."
Bruzina had this to say about the 2017 Summer Institute:
"Every day was packed with informative workshops, rich conversation, and inspiring stories. And I brought stacks of useful information, guides, phone numbers, and email addresses home afterwards. The seminar on understanding university finances helped demystify a part of the university that I had despaired of ever understanding and has already proved invaluable in discussions with administration. The workshop on direct action both uplifted and provided concrete tools that we’ll be testing shortly. The Unkoch My Campus presentation opened my eyes to the power undergraduates can and are wielding on university campuses. Other presentations—and the informal discussions at meals and after hours—both made visible the struggle to defend academic freedom and just labor policies and critical education on campuses across the country and offered an invaluable context for our own issues at USCA. Multiple members from every chapter should attend; I’m still digesting last summer’s material, but I’m going back for more."
Registration fees for the Summer Institute cover:
workshop materials and instruction
three nights in a single-occupancy room in a residence hall on campus (except for off-campus registrants)
breakfast on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday
lunch on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
opening reception on Thursday evening
Financial support to assist members in attending the Summer Institute may be available from both individual institutions and the state/national AAUP.
For the full 2018 AAUP Summer Institute Program and more detailed information see the AAUP website. And for more information about financial support, email: Dr. David Bruzina at [davidb (at) usca (dot) edu] or Dr. J. Mark Blackwell at [jblackwell (at) fmarion (dot) edu].