Happy New Year!
From all of us to all of you, may 2015 bring all that you desire to fruition. Happy New Year from UHPA!
FacFAQs: Will the snap-back be included in my “high three”?
Pearla has served many years as 9-month faculty at Lili'uokalani Community College, and is looking forward to her retirement in Spring 2015! After much congratulations and many joyful tears from colleagues, she started thinking about the financial repercussions of the snap-back. She knows that ERS often doesn't include retroactive payments so as not to inflate one's AFC. Will the snap-back be included in her "high three"? Answer: Although Pearla's "retirement estimate" does not reflect it, and it is not common practice from [...]
FacFAQs: Can I split up my sabbatical?
Marvin is an Associate Professor employed at UH Waimea on an 11-month appointment. He applied for and was granted a 4-month sabbatical leave during Fall 2014. After he returned from his sabbatical, he applied for another leave, this time for 2 months during Spring 2015. However, his fiscal officer, Jan is telling him that, "the clock starts over again," and that he should have requested the split time before taking the initial 4-month leave. Marvin is shocked! He reread the third paragraph [...]
Tenure Conversion Language Upheld in Historic Decision
The case of Dr. Mironesco comes out of UH-West Oahu and concerns a long term faculty member, who was generally funded but was not assigned to a tenure-track position count, thus not making her eligible for tenure. The language we negotiated into our collective agreement (see Article XIII, Faculty Appointments Not Eligible for Tenure) has established the right of faculty members to tenure-track positions once they are available to the campus. The administration would then have the burden of proof that the [...]
Try-all Tech Expectation Garners Eyerolls from Faculty
We've heard many promises about how using tech in the classroom will make things better, but the actual results are not always promising. Our favorite quote from this piece in the Hechinger Report, "Is technology actually making higher education less efficient?": “We’ve been hearing over the last four or five years that technology is going to reduce costs, increase quality and increase access,” said Diane Harley, director of the Higher Education in the Digital Age project at University of California, Berkeley." “I [...]
Who is UHPA?
We are UHPA! Our Assistant Executive Director is snapping quick YouTubes of our members and you might be next!
UHPA Vice-President Sally Pestana instrumental in expanding iCAN program
Between 2011 and 2014, the UHCCs received fifty million dollars in four rounds of federal Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grant funds through the U.S. Department of Labor. The grants focus on all aspects of job creation -- including new workforce training program development, existing program enhancement, and job placement. For the past two years, UHPA Vice President Sally Pestana has been the grant coordinator for the first round of funds received by Kapiolani CC. One part of the [...]
UHPA Director Sets World Record
Congratulations to UHPA Director, Jennifer Small Griswold, Ph.D., and her husband Brett for setting a new Guinness World Record for longest time danced by a couple. They danced the Argentine Tango for over 36 hours while simultaneously raising money for the National Federation of the Blind. Dr. Griswold is an Assistant Professor of Meteorology at UH Manoa. UPDATE: Congratulations Jennifer and Brett on ANOTHER world record! The Griswolds did it again! This past Sunday (12/14/14) in the Honolulu Marathon, with a time [...]
Executive Director JN Musto Announces Retirement
NEWS RELEASE Date: November 10, 2014 Contact: Kris Hanselman (808) 593-2157 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE UHPA Executive Director J. N. Musto Announces Retirement; Search for Successor Now Under Way Learn more about applying for the Executive Director position (Honolulu, Hawai‘i) – J. N. Musto, Executive Director and Chief Negotiator of the University of Hawai‘i Professional Assembly (UHPA) has announced he is planning to retire in August 2015 after more than 35 years in the position. “Dr. Musto first informed us of [...]
Signing of Two-Year Faculty Agreement Marks A New Milestone in Collective Bargaining
When UHPA, Gov. Neil Abercrombie, the UH Board of Regents and the UH administration announced in late June 2014 that they had reached a tentative two-year agreement, a year before the current faculty contract was to set to expire in June 2015, it raised a new bar for collective bargaining in Hawaii. It was the first time a public sector successor contract had been reached so far in advance. The UHPA Board of Directors unanimously voted in favor of ratifying the tentative [...]
