Candidate statements are ordered alphabetically by last name.
President
Frank Goulard
I am asking for your vote to be re-elected as your President of our Portland Community College Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals (PCCFFAP) union of full-time faculty, academic professionals, and part-time faculty, all incredibly talented.
I bring experience, inclusivity, accomplishments, pragmatic leadership, and a long game approach to achieving consistent gains.
Experience over many years has provided the advantage of institutional memory and detailed knowledge of contract details and intent. Intimate work with state and college budgets has been very beneficial. My experience is vital for contract interpretation and bargaining.
I welcome divergent points of view, progressive, conservative, or centrist, making sure no one faction consistently overcomes others in Federation work. Our differences make us stronger.
Our accomplishments: Annual salaries of over $103,000 for top step ft faculty and level 5 APs. A progressive move forward in pt faculty equity with ft faculty, both in number of steps and pay per course. Solving a significant Writing overpayment issue affecting over 100 Writing instructors. And more. But while past results have been gratifying non-monetarily and monetarily, I look to the future and our 2023 contract negotiations to continue to address all concerns…workloads, FDCs, SACs, strong wages & benefits, job security, and more.
The pragmatism of shared goals and approaches results in successes. This is important to continue! We’ve had challenging times with COVID and remote work, and we’ll emerge even stronger.
The long game of continual progress is important. Negotiation cycles build from one to the next, enabling accomplishments both large and small to happen. Some are many years in the making. Let’s continue to BUILD on what we have accomplished so far!
As always, I am grateful for your encouragement and feedback. Thank you in advance for your vote. Visit FrankForUs.net
Take good care, Frank Goulard
Laura Wadlin
I am running for President of our Federation because we need a bold new vision to get big wins for our coworkers and our students!
Many of the promising changes you’ve seen in FFAP recently have been a result of my presence in leadership, including more proactive contract enforcement, much needed educational events, department-level organizing to push back on management overreach, and college-wide campaigns to demand COVID relief like the $800 connectivity stipend and 14 days of paid time off. We need much, much more – and leaders who will pave the way to get it.
Now is the time to get serious about confronting our problems at PCC: falling enrollment, precarious employment, astronomical workloads, and unsafe conditions on campus… just to name a few. Administration’s approach? Empty rhetoric on equity, heavy-handed management practices, and a botched reorganization. We can no longer rely on good relationships with administration to solve our problems. It’s up to us – through thoughtful strategizing and courageous collective actions – to save quality education and create good careers at PCC.
Contract bargaining begins next year, and that is an enormous opportunity we can’t squander. As President of FFAP, I will lead the strongest contract campaign in this union’s history. We will participate together in essential trainings on organizing basics and our legal rights. We will select a bargaining team that won’t put up with management’s nonsense and will faithfully represent the diverse sections of our membership. We will take every opportunity to fight back on issues that unite us and in the process build our confidence, skills, and solidarity. We will prepare to go all the way: to go on strike and remind administration who makes this college run.
Together, we have power!
Cast your vote for me alongside the entire Unite for a Future slate (uniteforafuture.com).
Vice President for Grievance and Contract Administration – Academic Professionals
Michael Annus
I was appointed last year to be our union’s VP for Grievance and Contract Administration for Academic Professionals (aka “AP Grievance Officer”). The position was vacant at the time and even though I didn’t entirely know what I was getting myself into, I stepped up because I knew how important this position is to us APs. The learning curve has been steep, but I’m getting my footing and am now asking you all to vote me into this position so that I can continue my work representing and supporting my fellow APs.
In the past year, I’ve been involved in writing and shepherding multiple grievances through the process with our labor representative, Vincent Blanco, and have worked on and helped resolve a number of individual issues that our members have faced. Despite the grievances we’ve filed and because of the obstinance of management, many issues have not been resolved, and the working conditions of many of our APs are far from what they need to be. In collaboration with union leadership and members, I look forward to continuing to work and fight to make things right for all of us.
In addition to representing members, filing grievances, and doing contract administration work, I am on the mask mandate impact bargaining team and if I continue in this position, I’ll be part of the bargaining team negotiating our next contract. I’ve also contributed my video production skills toward our union effort. I am committed to this work and to doing my best to improve the work lives of APs and of our entire membership. I will appreciate and value your support. Union strong!
Secretary
Julie Hastings
Our union is on the verge of making historic gains in the next round of contract negotiations. We can only do it with a clear vision, united membership, and strong, experienced leaders. As Secretary, I would bring a proven record of leadership and achievement:
- During three years as NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS OFFICER, I moved us to digital voting – which substantially reduced costs and nearly tripled voter participation.
- As a member of the PART TIME FACULTY BARGAINING ADVISORY COUNCIL, I have been researching other colleges’ contracts, digging deep into our own, and making sure members’ voices are heard.
- As a MEMBER ORGANIZER, I increased union membership, recruited leaders, and conducted outreach with hundreds of APs, full-time and part-time faculty across the district.
- As a member of the PCCFFAP ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, I contributed to countless PCC Board meetings, bargaining sessions, and protests. I spearheaded the successful SE campus picket that contributed to achieving our COVID Deal and served as a public face (did you hear me on the radio?) of that effort.
- As an AFT All-State Leader, Delegate to the AFT-Oregon Convention, and participant at the AFT-Oregon Presidents Conference, I received extensive leadership training.
- As an activist with PORTLAND JOBS WITH JUSTICE, I have been dedicated to the processes of labor advocacy and coalition building that will be required for successful contract negotiations.
I will continue to bring a commitment to DEMOCRACY, FAIRNESS and TRANSPARENCY as guiding principles.
Together, we have made significant gains:
• Pay raises for all
• Health care for PT faculty
• Increased paid leave
• Step equity between PT and FT faculty
We must build on these gains without letting the past limit our vision of what PCC can be as we fight for EQUITY, DIGNITY and SECURITY in 2023.
https://sites.google.com/view/julieforsecretary/home
Hollie Oakes-Miller
We are in a time of escalating crises and it is up to us to actively fight for a better world for all. I believe that organizing people is critical to building power. History shows us that union members who organize their co-workers and who work in coalition with other unions and community groups are powerful agents of systemic change in workplaces and communities.
I believe I am the right leader to help transform our union into a local focused on bottom-up organizing, developing member-leaders who will enable us to win our demands, and building coalitions that can win the societal changes we need to meet multiple intersecting crises.
I am an Earth and environmental science educator, proud rank-and-file member-leader, community organizer, and with your help, the next Secretary of PCCFFAP. I bring to this role decades of experience in academia, and over 7 years as a bottom-up organizer, coalition builder, and founder of a non-profit that aims to grow a movement to build the power needed to win on issues important to all working people and their families.
During my tenure with FFAP I have brought on new member-leaders and organized to win COVID-related paid leave and internet stipends for all faculty, academic professionals, and staff. I currently serve on the:
- Executive Council as the PT Faculty Representative for Sylvania Campus
- Organizing Committee
- Political and Legislative Action Committee
- PT Bargaining Advisory Council
I believe that growing union membership and developing new rank-and-file member-leaders is critical to build the power necessary to win demands that will transform our workplaces and allow us to build communities and systems that work for everyone. If you are ready to fight for a better future, vote for me for Secretary of PCCFFAP along with the entire Unite for a Future slate (uniteforafuture.com).
Vice President for Communication
Michelle DuBarry
It has been my honor to serve on the PCCFFAP Executive Council since 2015, and as the VP for Communications since 2016. In developing the communications infrastructure for the organization, I’ve worked hard to transform it from a top-down structure where union leadership communicates to members about union priorities, to one where union power is derived from the strength, talent, and enthusiasm of our members. I am most passionate about ensuring a transparent and inclusive bargaining process in 2023. This includes developing surveys to inform our bargaining platform, establishing communication channels between the bargaining team and members, supporting organizing efforts (up to and including going on strike), and writing timely and thorough email updates during bargaining. After the last two years, I am more committed than ever to fighting for wages, benefits, and rights we are owed, whether PT faculty, FT faculty, or AP. I would very much appreciate your vote!
Organizing Officer
Ben Cushing
In this time of multiple overlapping crises, from class cancellations, to the rising cost of living, to an increasingly uncertain future, we need each other. We need to have each other’s backs, get organized and build solidarity.
I’m Ben Cushing, and I’m running for PCCFFAP Organizing Officer. As a 15-year PCC faculty member in sociology who has held both PT and FT positions, I see our college “managers” becoming increasingly corporate. I see colleagues who are feeling increasingly isolated, precarious and powerless. And I see students who are anxious about the future.
We are in this together.
As Organizing Officer, my goal will be to build our organizational capacity as a union, so that we can win a better college. As we prepare for our coming contract fight, we need to build a bottom-up, democratic organization that encourages participation by all members. I’ll draw on two decades of organizing experience (in the global justice movement, Latin American Indigenous solidarity struggles and racial justice work) to cultivate concrete relations of solidarity with allied unions, community organizations and students.
Workers around the country, from Starbucks employees to nurses, are organizing and winning big! Let’s put the movement back into the labor movement, for a better PCC and a better world!
Cast your vote for me alongside the entire Unite For A Future slate of candidates. Learn more at uniteforafuture.com
Nominations and Elections Officer
Marianne Stupfel-Wallace
I am running for PCCFFAP Nominations and Elections Officer because I believe in a bottom-up approach to organize workers to win a better workplace and a better world. We are stronger together if we have a truly democratic union.
As the Nominations and Elections Officer, I will work to strengthen the democracy of our elections which means having an active membership with a large voter turnout. This can be achieved with:
- a member-led approach where all members feel their voices are heard.
- candidate forums where members learn about the candidates and ask questions.
- an engaged membership where we see the impact of our voices and feel motivated to participate in union organizing activities / committees.
I’ve been an active union member since I started working at PCC in 2008 as a PT ESOL instructor. In the past year, I joined the PT Bargaining Advisory Council and the Nominations and Elections Committee.
My conversations with part-time colleagues attest to what job insecurity does to morale. The Administration has clearly shown that they want to corporatize the college without valuing those who serve our students. They reorganized under the claim of “better service to students,” without input from students, faculty, AP’s, or staff. What we have really seen is an uncertain future for everyone and no real improvement to student services and equity. That’s why I’m running on the Unite For A Future slate and will work in my position as Nominations and Election Officer to make our union stronger and bolder.
If you share this vision, vote for me as the next Nominations and Elections Officer along with my colleagues on the Unite For A Future slate.
Cascade Campus Representative for Part Time Faculty
Amber Hicks
Cascade Campus Representative for Full Time Faculty
Aubrey Baldwin
Times of change and crisis bring us together, presenting us with opportunities to consider anew what we’d like to create in the world. PCC is an essential and powerful institution in our community, and can lead the way for a safer, more innovative, and more effective post-pandemic workplace for the sake of our students.
I am running for the PCCFFAP full-time faculty representative for Cascade because I believe I can make a difference for our College in this role. As a former litigating attorney, I understand the legal and economic environment in which PCC operates, and am skilled at discerning and capitalizing on common ground and mutual benefit to achieve our goals. Before law school, I worked as a community organizer in a variety of contexts, and I honor the power of people to create and maintain conditions most suitable for their success. As a faculty member working closely with students and the people at PCC who support them, my mind is always on creative and incremental improvements to how we do business. I have found that our students, and the Faculty, Academic Professionals and Classified Staff working directly with them, are not only dedicated and intelligent enough for the job, but are also in the best position to drive the future of PCC. I am dedicated to centering the wisdom of our students and PCCFFAP members to collectively and strategically lead the College to a brighter and more equitable future. Finally, I am eager to bring my perspective as a CTE faculty member to union leadership. Please cast your vote for me alongside the entire Unite for a Future slate (uniteforafuture.com).
Alex Jordan
I am seeking to serve our union in the position of Cascade Representative for full-time faculty. After a dozen years of membership, I would like to begin working more directly with the union to support its goals. Contract negotiations open this coming Fall, andI would like to help in every way that I can. For me, this may start with serving as the Cascade FT Representative to gather member input during negotiations and to relay developments back to general members. And in this role, I am eligible to participate in other Federation committee work.
There are nearly 70 full-time instructors based at Cascade. To support you, I would plan roughly one short Zoom check-in meeting each term, scheduled for no more than 45 minutes. And I would plan for a finals week gathering at the end of each term either on campus or nearby. Throughout the year, I’ll be available and responsive when you have questions, concerns, or grievances and I will act as an intermediary and be supportive to make sure your voice is heard. I’ll disseminate news from the union leadership and meetings back to you, supplementing their messages when it is helpful.
I started at Cascade in 2009, moved to Sylvania in 2011, and returned to Cascade in Fall 2019. With my time at Sylvania and then the pandemic closing things down, I have not yet met many of you, my Cascade FT colleagues. I look forward to this opportunity to get to know you all better.
Alex Jordan
Cascade Math Department
Sylvania Campus Representative for Part Time Faculty
Matt Reeder
Over the past few years, we have dealt with one crisis after another, and it can seem overwhelming to even know where to begin to tackle the challenges we face. Yet history tells us that if we organize and work together, we can achieve what was previously believed to be unachievable. Recent union victories are proof of this, as organizers have taken on some of the largest companies in the world and come away victorious. Now as always, true change comes from the ground up!
I am more of a believer of this than ever before, and this is why I am running for the position of Part-time Campus representative for Sylvania campus. It seems strange to run for a position while I have been working remotely for more than two years, but Sylvania is still my home. As we return to campus, I look forward to helping adjunct faculty (the majority faculty) work to organize to improve our working conditions. I previously served this in role from 2017 to 2019, and I believe more than ever that we need to work together to help us improve to empower faculty, whether adjunct or full-time. Over the past few years I have served on the political action committee for PCCFFAP, working to endorse candidates and translate words to action. Together we have raised the profile of our union, and our action is translating into victories across the Portland metro area.
Please vote for me at to serve Sylvania campus, and we can continue this work together. Cast your vote for me alongside the entire Unite for a Future slate (www.uniteforafuture.com).
Sylvania Campus Representative for Full Time Faculty
Christopher Shelley
My name is Christopher Shelley, I am a full-time instructor teaching History at the Sylvania campus, and I am running for the Sylvania Full Time Faculty Campus Representative position.
I would like to serve in this position because the time seems right for our union to be more aggressive in our negotiations with management. In my time at PCC as a full-time faculty, we have seen a steady increase in our overall workload. At the same time, we have lost more and more autonomy. This trend is very demoralizing.
Our commitment to students has been and remains unwavering. Yet PCC management continues to assume that we are indifferent to our students’ needs – that we require more and more oversight (and should be responsible for providing more and more non-educational service) to support students.
Not every relationship need be adversarial. When cooperation is warranted, cooperation should be pursued. But when management ignores or dismisses our legitimate concerns as unreasonable, then assuming an adversarial position is necessary. This is where I see our position as faculty today.
Sincerely,
Christopher Shelley
History Department
PCC Sylvania
Sylvania Campus Representative for Academic Professionals
Teri Patapoff
I believe in Unions.
In the autumn of 2020 when the world was upside down, I eagerly tracked announcements and updates from our PCCFFAP Union leadership in their tenacious and determined campaign to protect the Cost of Living Adjustment for PCC faculty and staff, threatened by the plummet in enrollment. Our leaders did not back down. Because of the PCCFFAP Union, my COLA was preserved, a victory that brought peace of mind to my family during a time when others in my household were experiencing income loss due to the pandemic.
The faculty and staff of Portland Community College are the fuel that makes education possible for our students. We deserve strong representation and to have our rights protected, especially during this prolonged time of transition, reorganization, return to campus, continued struggles with enrollment, and a gloomy budget forecast.
I will dedicate myself to advocating for the rights of PCC staff and am proud to run as the PCC Sylvania Campus Academic Professional Representative.