Candidates were informed that they could make a short statement that would be available to voters. The following are the statements that were received, by alphabetical order of last name:
John Aliano
My name is John Aliano, Program Director for Videography & Film. I have worked at CSN for six years and feel I can be an asset to the bargaining team and NFA. As we move forward with collective bargaining it is important to advocate for many interests represented by a variety of classifications within the CSN community. I have been an active participant in numerous meetings thus far and will continue to support the best interests of our hard working faculty.
Regards,
John
Jerry Hodges
My name is Professor Jerry Hodges and I have been at CSN for some 23 years. I have been very involved in college service over these many years and have been a strong advocate for faculty over my tenure at CSN. If elected as a member of the bargaining team, I will continue to be a strong advocate for faculty in the collective bargaining process.
Aminul KM
I believe in shared governance. We can make Collective Bargaining a part of shared governance in this beautiful institution of CSN. I will work with the administration on our behalf to make sure that we have proper health and salary benefits. Even though CSN is the one of the biggest community colleges in the U.S, our benefits are less than our peers. Our salaries are below national median, and our health benefits are even worse. How could one of the biggest community colleges in the country doesn’t even fall in the top 500 in salaries and benefits? With inadequate compensation and poor benefits, we are having trouble recruiting the best teachers and retaining scores of our excellent colleagues. A strong CB team can improve our salaries, benefits, and overall environment, and make CSN one of the premier institutions in the nation.
Aminul KM
Mathematics
Joseph Miller
I believe that the collective bargaining team will play a critical part in the future of CSN, and members of the team should have broad background in terms of the experiences at CSN. A short summary of my experiences is below:
• Over the years I’ve been a part-time instructor, emergency hire instructor, tenured track, and tenured faculty. I started in 1999 as a part-time instructor.
• At times in addition to teaching I’ve served as a Program Director and Department Chair. In both of those positions I strongly advocated for the interests of the Program faculty or Department faculty when in those positions.
• I’ve served in the Faculty Senate for close to 10 years.
Jennifer Nelson
Collective bargaining at CSN gives academic faculty, counsellors, and librarians new status in the shared governance of this college. Through our representatives at the bargaining table, we are made equal parties with our administrators in the processes of contract negotiation. The training for negotiation I have completed over the last two months has by no means made me a perfect candidate for your bargaining team. What I offer is professionalism and over 15 years' experience with faculty issues at CSN, seen from the perspectives of the classroom as a tenured professor, the Faculty Senate as an Arts & Letters representative, and NFA leadership (currently, as chapter VP and state board Treasurer). If elected as a negotiator, I will work tirelessly to support the negotiating team's efforts to bring the best possible contract to you for ratification. Thank you in advance for your vote.
Jennifer S. Nelson, Ph.D
T. Raghu
NFA Colleagues,
I have been a professor of philosophy in the department of social sciences at CSN, West Charleston campus, for twelve years. I currently serve at CSN in the Workload & Evaluation Committee, the Strategic Futures Task force appointed by President Richards, and the departmental program review committee. I strongly supported the NFA in its attempt to win the Collective Bargaining election. I have attended the CAPE session on "Faculty Rights and Processes under Collective Bargaining" and, of course, the NFA Collective Bargaining training session. I am strongly committed to achieving expertise in all relevant policies and procedures impacting faculty rights and interests. Ensuring a healthy, supportive, and productive work climate for faculty at CSN is one of my top priorities. Another priority is inclusion, without which diversity is a charade. If elected to your bargaining team, I will work to the best of my ability to alleviate and eliminate work climate factors at CSN which undermine faculty rights, interests, morale, and meaningful participation.
I look forward to your valuable support in this election. If you have any questions, pl. do not hesitate to contact me by e-mail or by phone.
Best,
Thill Raghu
Steve Soltz
Dear fellow NFA members,
I am running for a position on the bargaining team, which will be negotiating your contract terms with CSN. I have been involved with the effort to gain collective bargaining rights since it began. I was never a union man. But the circumstances that have come about regarding our pay and benefits over the last eight (8) years have made it such that I saw no other way to make change, other than collective bargaining. I can assure you that if I am chosen as a member I will do my part to see that the faculty are given the best contract that can be done, under the constraints of Nevada and NSHE law.
Respectfully,
Steve Soltz
Ingrid Stewart
Dear Colleagues
The other day I overheard a conversation between my friends Ray and Steve. Ray asked what Steve’s son is doing for a living. Steve said, “Well, he wanted to be a teacher, but I talked him out of that. Teachers don’t make any money. Now he works in marketing and makes over half a mil a year.”
I felt degraded! After all, isn’t it the teachers who educated this marketing manager as well as the doctors and lawyers and such? Therefore, shouldn’t teachers at least earn a salary they can be proud of and that the public respects?
I would like to be a part of the NFA negotiation team to try to bring back some pride in being a teacher. I understand that I must be professional in my dealings with the administration, be respectful, and have integrity.
Now, the other side might say that teaching is a labor of love and teachers shouldn’t bankrupt the system. But if the Clark County Commissioners don’t worry about that when they sent a $750 mil request for public funds to the Governor to build a Raider’s Stadium, I won’t even worry about our much humbler requests. According to Channel 8, about 65% of publicly funded stadiums are no longer used after some period of time whereas our profession keeps on giving.
Sincerely,
Ingrid Stewart, Ph.D.
David Wangsgard
My name is David Wangsgard, and I would like to serve on the collective bargaining team. I currently serve on the NFA executive board as the chair of Membership and Organizing. For the past two years, I have been deeply involved in our efforts to achieve collective bargaining at CSN. I would like to see these efforts through to the successful negotiation of a robust contract for CSN faculty.
In solidarity,
David Wangsgard
Glynda White
Dear Faculty,
I ask for your vote to become a member of the CSN/NFA-AAUP Bargaining Team. See below a few pertinent facts, my qualifications and reasons for seeking this position.
I am a professor and lead faculty of Business and Employment/Labor Law in the Department of Business Administration. I have been at CSN for over twenty years. My many years of teaching at CSN have allowed me to serve on many college committees, interact with faculty in interdisciplinary areas and, afforded me the opportunity develop new courses for the department.
In 1998 I developed the Employment Law course which includes a component of Labor Law with collective bargaining. The class introduces to students this area of workplace law as they prepare to enter the business environment. I am currently teaching this class.
I hold the Juris Doctor degree and, a trained lawyer. My work experience includes working in law offices in different states, EEOC, Nevada Equal Rights Commission (NERC) and the US Department of Commerce, specifically Economic Development of Administration (EDA).
I am seeking to become a member of the bargaining team because I believe in Academic Collective Bargaining. I have good skills in persuasion and advocacy for the best interest of the unit. It is my position that an effective labor-management plan provides a positive and productive workplace climate for all parties. Academic Collective Bargaining is a method to bring about equality, genuine shared decision making and improved conflict resolution.
I know how to bargain in good faith and I am a strong advocate. And I want to represent you!
Thank you for your vote!