The reason for my candidacy for senator is that with my experience of twenty-two years at UCF, having seen a great deal of good and bad, I should be able to help those that may face a diversity of struggles in this very complicated and often unfair place.

Webpage: www.uffucf-actnowteam.org
Twitter: @UCFActNow

I have been at UCF since 2001 and have been a member of the union for a long time but have not been active. As an alt Senator I pledge to attend all union meetings and to participate in the bargaining process. I look forward to working with the membership.

Webpage: www.uffucf-actnowteam.org
Twitter: @UCFActNow

I believe in transparent communication and always speak for social and racial justice. I represent diversity and want to work for the enhancement of diversity and inclusion at UCF. As an alternate Senator, I want to work with the team of Scott, Talat, Latarsha, and Yovanna—a team that never stops working for faculty. 

Webpage: www.uffucf-actnowteam.org
Twitter: @UCFActNow

Yun–Ling Hsu wants to ensure our faculty union under the leadership of Scott Launier becomes stronger and has a true just voice in the university. As someone who grew up in Asia, she brings cultural diversity and perspective of inclusiveness. She resolutely pursues justice, integrity, fairness in our union, and promotes diversity and anti-racism.

Webpage: www.uffucf-actnowteam.org
Twitter: @UCFActNow

Yun–Ling Hsu wants to ensure our faculty union under the leadership of Scott Launier becomes stronger and has a true just voice in the university. As someone who grew up in Asia, she brings cultural diversity and perspective of inclusiveness. She resolutely pursues justice, integrity, fairness in our union, and promotes diversity and anti-racism.

Webpage: www.uffucf-actnowteam.org
Twitter: @UCFActNow

Webpage: www.uffucf-actnowteam.org
Twitter: @UCFActNow

Member of UFF-UCF since UFF gained bargaining rights (1976), and chapter officer for 17 years. Renewed interest in more active participation in the last few years. A UFF-UCF delegate to our AFL-CIO Central Labor Council beginning in 2015. Believe that no entity represents faculty better than a union does.

Thank you,
Frank

Webpage: www.uffucf-actnowteam.org
Twitter: @UCFActNow

As UFF-UCF Senator, I have been active in our United Faculty of Florida & Florida Education Association statewide and American Federation of Teachers & National Education Association national organizations. In 2019, I helped elect Yovanna Pineda, our current UCF Treasurer, to be UFF statewide Vice President. I have been active in helping pass local codes to protect vulnerable populations, attended Central Florida Jobs with Justice events and participated with Unite Here fight for $15 an hour at Disney World.

Webpage: www.uffucf-actnowteam.org
Twitter: @UCFActNow

Do you want a union leadership that runs like a private club with a few voices making our most important decisions? Or do you want a growing union organization that works with full committees to hear from you, keep you informed, and address your concerns?

For five years, I have been our union president. I have accomplished much: one of the important accomplishments is that the UFF UCF chapter membership grew from 18% density of due-paying members in 2015 when I became a President to 518 due paying members representing 30.5% density by June 2020. But I have been held back by a few in the council who disrupted our union work. Otherwise, we would now have even more complete and powerful union organization. I will host open forum times for questions and candid conversations.

I am interested in serving, only if you are interested in electing a full council of 40 colleagues who will follow union rules, unlike a few who have violated these for the past year. Fortunately, after December 2019, a few of us ignored the disrupters, and despite them, have been able to accomplish all of the business that you witnessed. I have a record of integrity and fighting for others, not myself. I am not afraid to stand behind everything I say, because leadership in our world is in crisis, and you have two very different leadership choices.

When I meet our new UCF President, I call him Alex. I don’t ask permission. He calls me Scott. Same with our BOT chair, Bev. Our respect for one another is based not on titles, but as individuals concerned with solving problems in education. I gain no professional advantage from union activity. I am union, because I want to fight injustice, and I care about our students’ public educations.

Re-elect me if you want a union that respects and practices it’s own rules for democracy, so we may increase our influence and collaboration with UCF administrators, BOT, BOG and Florida Legislature that our students would benefit from great working environment their faculty and UCF administration jointly create for them to enhance their learning capabilities. We have 1,700 BU faculty. We’re supposed to be powerful and we are powerful. Very powerful!

I don’t know my competitor. I’ve never seen him at a union meeting. He does not have enough experience and skill to run the union. We need a president with a proven integrity and record of union activity and accomplishment. Faculty working conditions are our student’s learning conditions and outcomes.

Union leadership encumbered by intentional disruptors no longer interests me. If you elect me as a President and a leader of the “Act Now” team, along with 40 council members who care about and follow our union’s rules, I will accept your call to continue leading. We will become a really powerful and constructive UFF UCF union chapter. Looking forward to working with all of you!

Webpage: www.uffucf-actnowteam.org
Twitter: @UCFActNow

If given the opportunity to serve UCF faculty union as a senator, I will work with the leadership to ensure that faculty voices are heard and that shared governance becomes the norm at UCF and that grievance procedures afford genuine redress for arbitrary and capricious decisions.

Webpage: www.uffucf-actnowteam.org
Twitter: @UCFActNow

Our country and the world at large are going through times which could lead to further distress and dismay — or, with proper action, could help us venture into an era in which social and racial justice prevails at all levels at UCF. As Vice President of UCF-UFF, I would support Scott Launier in his efforts to ensure that at UCF we establish the golden practices of shared governance, transparent communications, and common-good bargaining. Through these practices, we can ensure that our grievance policies are fair and reasoned and that all faculty enjoy academic freedom in the classroom and in their research and other scholarly and creative endeavors. Our team will work with UCF administration to establish policies that further enhance diversity and inclusion, at all levels. We will strive to ensure that UCF rewards excellence in teaching, research, and community outreach. We will promote an environment that supports international and national collaborations in education, research, and service. We will also seek partnerships with local and national justice and labor organizations.

I joined UCF in 2006 as distinguished professor and chair of Physics with the opportunity to steer the department to new heights in its missions. Prior to that I had gone through the ranks at Kansas State University, serving in its Faculty Senate leadership 1997-99. Shared governance, transparent tenure and promotion procedures, and gender equity, were some practices that we were able to secure during my tenure as faculty senate president. Please vote for team Act Now!

Webpage: www.uffucf-actnowteam.org
Twitter: @UCFActNow

I have been an active member and senator since 2016. I became involved in bargaining, eagerly learning about common good bargaining strategies and techniques to help with negotiations. In January 2020, I began serving my term as bargaining chair after three years serving on the committee and three months serving as UFF VP of the state universities’ bargaining council. As such, every week I communicate with other state university bargaining leaders to organize and push forward union bargaining goals. My bargaining goals are to strengthen our work contract, reduce our workload, and raise our salaries. https://yovannapineda.com/faculty-union/

Webpage: www.uffucf-actnowteam.org
Twitter: @UCFActNow

I will enjoy being a supportive team member to President Scott Launier, Vice President Talat Rahman, and Secretary Latarsha Chisholm’s “Act Now” team. As a treasurer, I work with members, chapter officers, and state-level officials, such as the Florida Education Association, to ensure our chapter is in fiscal compliance and operating well.

Being a treasurer requires complete transparency in the chapter’s financial process. It includes attention to detail in fiscal responsibility, being aware of all local, state, and federal codes that guide labor organizations. For instance, each year a Treasurer must fill out the appropriate 990 or 1099 federal tax forms, attend state-level treasurer training, and submit reports to our mother organization, the United faculty of Florida, to comply with the US Department of Labor and “Sunshine” state laws. Not complying risks decertification of our union or major fines.

Being an officer requires listening, respecting different views, quickly adapting to changes, and being a model union member by actively participating in meetings at the local, state, and national levels. The treasurer is also the archivist of the chapter, holding nearly all financial documents in perpetuity. In addition, a treasurer must ensure the timely payment of weekly, monthly, and annual invoices and reimbursements. This is no small feat given the need for awareness in sudden changes to union labor laws at the state and federal levels.

Please vote for the Act Now! Team (uffucf-actnowteam.org). This experienced team will motivate you to be the positive change we want to see at UCF! Vote for “Act Now” officers: Scott Launier, Talat Rahman, Yovanna Pineda, and Latarsha Chisholm. https://yovannapineda.com/faculty-union/

Webpage: www.uffucf-actnowteam.org
Twitter: @UCFActNow

As a senator, I will attend meetings called by the president or the majority of council, help establish the bargaining agenda, promote the welfare of the Chapter, and responsively exercise my senator powers of advice and consent. I support the goals of the “Act Now” team to promote racial and social justice. I support a council that best represents UCF’s diverse colleges, schools, and departments, and to ensure that minority and women faculty are represented in its leadership.

Webpage: www.uffucf-actnowteam.org
Twitter: @UCFActNow

As an officer, I will collaborate with the “Act Now” team to ensure a strong shared governance, including transparent communications, fair and effective grievance policies, and common good bargaining. Our team will work for its members in all aspects important to academic work life. I also support our team’s efforts to vigorously promote social and racial justice.

As secretary, I shall maintain the records of the Chapter, shall record the minutes of all membership, chapter council, and executive meeting minutes, and shall assist the nominations and elections committee in carrying out its duties for all Chapter elections.

Vote for the “Act Now” team, Scott Launier, Talat Rahman, Yovanna Pineda, and myself. We are the team that never stops working for its members!

Webpage: www.uffucf-actnowteam.org
Twitter: @UCFActNow

My name is Marie Léticée and I’ve been a French faculty at UCF for 32 years. As your senator, I will bargain on your behalf for fairness, equity and respect for all. I will be your voice for a better, safer and more diverse work environment. I stand for justice!

I believe in the power of the collective voice and equity for all. In my previous career, I was one of the original signatories for the Animation Guild, Local 841. I have experience as Guild President, negotiated labor contracts and lead membership meetings. I offer this to UFF-UCF.

I have been a full-time instructor for the Department of Writing & Rhetoric for 5 years, a dues-paying union member for 4 years, and a Council member for the past 2 years. If re-elected to serve on Council, I will be even more active in working toward fair and equitable labor practices for our faculty. It is my hope that as we face uncertain times, we will have a stronger union and leadership that demonstrates integrity, accountability, responsiveness, and transparency.

Union work can be consuming. Over my five years serving on UFF-UCF’s council, I have watched faculty involvement in union activity wax and wane. I am proud of the work that was accomplished at the beginning of our current leadership, particularly the ways in which, as a union, we successfully fought for parental leave and seriously engaged with fostering inclusion in our ranks and on-campus. I also believe that the best way to maintain strong leadership is to alternate who serves. Leadership in as important an organization as a union representing more than 1500 professors, librarians, instructional designers, and preschool teachers can be a stressful and consuming job, leading to burnout. The events of the past year , which included the censure of our President, the firing without cause of our chief negotiator 15 minutes before a bargaining session, and the exodus of many committed members who had been active in supporting our union have convinced me that now is the time for a change in leadership, and now is the right time to give back to this organization from which I have personally benefited in myriad ways. I believe that many hands make light work, and I am thrilled to be running alongside other experienced and dedicated union activists like Michael Armato and Jonathan Beever. I look forward to supporting Rob Cassanello as president. A strong, well-functioning, transparent executive team will keep our union strong as we face times of uncertainty and financial crisis in the year ahead.

(she/her/ella)

Beatriz M. Reyes-Foster, Associate Professor, Anthropology

I believe many hands make light work and having a group of committed team-players will make us a stronger, more cohesive, and effective union. I am committed to fighting alongside our union leadership for a more inclusive and transparent organization and to working towards continually improving our working conditions.

(she/her/ella)

I’m a Senior Lecturer with SPA and I’ve served as a UCF-UFF Senator and Alternate Senator. I’m grateful for colleagues that have been a part of my successes and personal growth. I’m asking for your vote (Alternate Senator) as a way to continue giving back to our community.

A successful, engaged and active faculty union requires, at its core, collegiality, respect and transparency from its leadership so that diversity of viewpoints is honored and not suppressed. 

I joined UCF physics faculty in 1991, and I joined the UFF in 2011 when I realized how critical UFF could be in protecting our rights and defining our responsibilities. Although I have been a passive member till now, given the realities in the nation and at UCF, I agreed to run for a senator position when I was nominated.  I make no promises except that I will attend meetings, pay attention, try to understand what is going on, and contribute if I see a meaningful way to do something useful.

Charlotte Trinquet du Lys became part of UFF a decade ago and has served on the grievance committee, and as a senator and alternate senator since 2013. She is an associate professor of French, and an alternate professor in Women and Gender Studies and Medieval and Renaissance Studies. 

Richard Harrison has been a UFF-UCF member since April 2001, when he joined the UCF Libraries faculty as Associate University Librarian in the Research and Information Services department.

Turbulent times require us to dig deep and make a difference.  I will use my experience, education and my voice to contribute to improving UCF conditions for all and especially to improve our environment from my unique perspective as a representative of underrepresented groups and African-Americans at UCF.

After being a member of the UFF for the last few years, I am honored to join a group of dedicated union leaders and represent voices of faculty of all ranks when we negotiate for more favorable and equitable benefits through collective bargaining. 

I’ve been an active union member at multiple institutions since beginning my graduate training in sociology.  I’ve been a Senator/Alternate Senator for UFF-UCF since fall 2017.  The role of senator is important, as senators represent our members on UFF-UCF’s Council.  Senators also reprsent UFF-UCF at our semi-annual state-level UFF meetings.

As a lifelong supporter of progressive stances such as union representation and other employee protections, I am well-aware of the contributions that labor unions have made to employee and societal welfare.  I will work to increase our union’s membership and visibility, so it may continue to perform these valuable functions.

Many of you know me from my service as chief negotiator. I’ve been active since 2013 and will continue to support bargaining, grievances and other chapter responsibilities. Our chapter needs a more open, responsive and democratic leadership, which is why I support Robert, Beatriz, Mike and Jonathan. http://uffucfintegrity2020.org

I’ve been a member since 2003, active on UFF council since 2008, Bargaining Caucus since 2014, and part of bargaining team 19-20. I’ll help work towards our goals no matter what. But I’m keen to support a revitalization of UFF-UCF Leadership: the slate of Robert, Beatriz, Mike and Jonathan. http://uffucfintegrity2020.org

Prior to joining UCF as an Assistant Instructional Designer almost three years ago, I was a middle school language arts teacher for five years. Education is my life. I hope to be able to help bring a unique perspective to the union as a non-instructional faculty member. 

Michael Armato (he, him, his)

I have been an active union member since joining UFF-GAU in grad school at the University of Florida about 25 years ago.  While completing my PhD, I was a founding member of GSOC-UAW at New York University, the first graduate student employee union formed at a private university in the US.  In my first faculty position at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, IL, I was a department steward and eventually the elected representative for tenure-stream faculty in my college for my union, UPI-4100.  I also served as a representative of my local and worked alongside other members of the labor community in Chicago in support of education and public institutions more generally.  Since joining UCF in 2016, I have remained active in my union, serving as a senator since 2017 and then as secretary fall 2018 through fall 2019.  My extensive experiences in union work have cultivated in me a radical commitment to union transparency and integrity that is driven by member democracy.  I am also committed to union practices that center the experiences of those among us who are the most marginalized, the most vulnerable to exploitation.  I’m running for secretary as part of a slate of candidates (Robert Cassanello, President; Beatriz Reyes-Foster, Vice President; and Jonathan Beever, Treasurer) who’ve expressed a commitment to reinvigorating UFF-UCF’s responsibility to transparency, integrity, and accountability.

Jonathan Beever

Jonathan is Assistant Professor of Ethics and Digital Culture and the co-founder and director of the UCF Center for Ethics. He has participated in UCF-UFF for the past several years as a council member, and has been glad to serve his faculty colleagues.

His former experiences as a grants manager and current multiple national-level leadership service roles position him well to support our union as treasurer. He is committed to supporting his colleagues across campus and working with campus leadership to foster faculty-governance and a culture of ethics.

As an assistant professor with prior experience at two other large state universities, he understands the diverse perspectives of his colleagues across rank and discipline. As an academic ethicist, he recognizes and values the importance of trust and transparency.

Jonathan believes the work of the union is vital to the health of UCF and is a proud member. Yet, he has felt like our union should be more focused more centrally on supporting our faculty colleagues and engaging local institutional issues. He is committed to faculty-governance of our university, led by a culture of accountability, responsiveness, and transparency. He believes strongly that integrity, the value that is supposed to guide us, requires all of us, together.

You can learn more about Jonathan and reach him directly at http://www.jonathan.beever.org/. You can learn more about his colleagues running for office on the same ticket by visiting uffucfelection2020.org.

Native Floridian Tina Calandrino has worked as an educator in higher learning for over 25 years. She began her college career as Faculty at Miami-Dade College working with students on a new concept called Macintosh computers. This set the tone for an interest in using computers for more practical educational purposes than just the desktop editing that existed in 1988. Today, her research interests in online learning include Competency-Based Education, Gender/Age/Inclusion Bias, and Faculty Development. You may run into Tina outside of work hours at Disney and advocating for local farm to table purveyors.

I am a Senior Instructor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Founder/Director of Animal Safehouse of Brevard, a 501(c)3 organization that fosters pets for people in domestic shelters. I have been a faculty member at UCF for twenty years and a union member for most of that time.  

My target is to ensure that the faculty’s concerns are heard and addressed to lighten the load that faculty members must balance. By creating space for inclusive and honest conversations about accountability, tenure rights, family rights, and developing a “brave space” for grievances we can achieve this aim together.

Nichole is an Associate Instructor in the Department of Writing and Rhetoric. Having worked with diverse populations both domestically and abroad, she has seen immense growth in the field of teaching and learning. Her interests include how GEP courses can and should facilitate transformative learning in students. She is grateful to be a member of UCF’s union and thrilled to be a part of the strides of equity that happen each year.

I strongly believe that faculty and staff should have an active and collaborative role in helping to set the priorities and policies that will lead to the highest standard of teaching, research, and linkage to the community. As part of the “Act Now” ticket I will work hard to achieve these goals.

Please vote for me, Beatriz Reyes-Foster, Jonathan Beever and Michael Armato. We are committed to accountability, responsiveness, and transparency. I do not stand before you alone to ask for your support as candidate for President of UFF-UCF, instead I will work together with a team of experienced members who are dedicated to serving you. My grandfather, my parents, my uncles and my brothers have been union members and involved in union leadership going back to 1913 when my grandparents first came to this country. I am also a labor and working-class historian who has published peer-reviewed research on the labor movement in Florida. My work exclusively has been critical of the labor movement, pointing out when it has failed workers of color and women by excluding them from benefits, membership, and leadership that white men in the union benefitted from under a repressive sexist and racist Jim Crow system. Our current President and his team have done a tremendous job of making us conscious of these issues in our current workplace and today’s labor movement generally, and I commend and admire them for that. However, I believe his leadership has become divisive and threatens the wellbeing and health of our entire union body.
Over the years I have heard concerns from friends and colleagues about our President and his management style; some left the union in protest. I attended Council meetings this year where I learned that Council censured the President in December of 2019. I witnessed firsthand Council meetings in disarray where the President, instead of leading the body, shut down discussion and leveled ad hominem attacks at the very Councilors we duly elected to represent us. Over the course of his tenure, his actions have driven from leadership positions people I know and respect. This is not leadership. We want to change that. Therefore, we ask for your vote.
We want to preside over a membership that is unified, directed at serving its members, and dedicated to getting the benefits we all deserve. Our President has dropped the ball on timely communication with all members during contract negotiations, informing us that his team secured a promise from administration of a 1.25% increase if “new sufficient recurring funds” appeared. We need concrete gains from negotiations, not promises that disappear in the ether. We want to assemble a larger negotiating team and explore the possibility of hiring a professional union negotiator to lead that team. We want a more robust grievance process that responds quickly, efficiently, and includes more people trained at various levels. We believe your union dues should be used to advance you and our collective goals. We promise to regularly communicate with you and to rebuild a strong leadership team and union that draws on the experience, energy, and perspective of all its members as we prepare for whatever new challenges we face. We will not fail you but will humbly serve you.
In solidarity,
Robert Cassanello
http://uffucfintegrity2020.org/

I have been a union member for over a decade and an Alternate Senator and Council member since 2016. I believe a strong union responds promptly, transparently, and with integrity in the service of its members, and I support a leadership team that shares this vision http://www.uffucfintegrity2020.org/.

Shelley Park (Philosophy) brings experience, historical memory, institutional knowledge and a commitment to the inclusion of diverse voices to the UFF-UCF team. Her UFF-UCF service includes:  council member (2004-5, 2010-present), Secretary (2010-11), Vice-President (2011-12) and President (2012-14). She has also been a Program Director and Department Chair.  Vote uffucfintegrity2020.org!

Engineering Professor, UCF since 2002, and UFF-UCF member since 2014. My focus is faculty rights and governance, and I also plan to join the bargaining committee.   Change to UCF’s extreme top-down culture needs to come from faculty, specifically via UFF-UCF, and I hope to contribute to that change.

Since becoming a due paying union member in 2016, I have witnessed many problems encountered by faculty in their grievances at UCF. Therefore, I would like to change the culture of faculty representation and my goal is to have professional, ethical and respectful engagement across the union in all bargaining and grievances aspects.

Jennifer A. Sandoval, (she/her/ella), Associate Professor, Nicholson School of Communication and Media and Faculty Fellow for Inclusive Excellence

I believe faculty voices are critical to shared governance and I am committed to using my expertise in communication across difference and experience in conflict management to make our council voice stronger. Together we must advocate for more humane and equitable working and learning environments, especially for marginalized community members.