California APSCUF Chapter President Mario Majcen speaks to Pennsylvania’s State System of Higher Education’s Board of Governors in mid-July 2025. APSCUF photo
Shortly after becoming his chapter’s vice president, Mario Majcen was part of a three-day strike in October 2016. Now, nine years later, he serves his chapter as president — and all of APSCUF as a statewide officer-at-large.
Majcen grew up and graduated from college in Croatia before immigrating to the United States. He got his master’s in meteorology from the University of Utah before moving to Pennsylvania for his Ph.D., which he received from Penn State in 2009, after which he became an assistant professor at California University of Pennsylvania.
“One of the differences between the offers that I got for the first job is that the faculty are unionized at California University as all PASSHE schools, and I decided to go there,” Majcen said.
He joined APSCUF the first day he was able to and has been increasingly more involved since. In 2013, Majcen was elected as an alternative delegate to the legislative assembly. Then in 2016 he was elected as Cal U’s APSCUF chapter vice president. He also became the mobilization chair.
“You know, they said, ‘Mostly nothing happens. It’s a really easy position,’ and of course, you know, that was the strike year,” Majcen said, reflecting on his position as mobilization chair.
Issues had been building before Majcen was elected.
“There was almost nothing sudden about this,” Majcen said about the strike, “Our negotiations to get a contract were stuck for a while … So everything was building towards that.”
A few years after APSCUF’s first and only statewide strike in its 88-year history, Majcen was part of the merger of Cal U, Clarion, and Edinboro into PennWest University. Despite hardship during this time, there were benefits.
“I have met some amazing people in union chapters in Edinboro and Clarion that I communicate and collaborate with now, so it makes the union much stronger,” Majcen said.
In 2022, Majcen became the California APSCUF chapter president. This past April, he ran for officer-at-large.
“During that consolidation process, I acquired experience going through that and knowing how to solve problems,” he said. “And I decided that I want to make an impact and help on a state level, having that expertise, especially in a sense of how I could enhance collaboration between different chapters.”
Dr. Mario Majcen visits RCA Studio B in Nashville, Tenn. Photo/Submitted
Before taking on his responsibilities with APSCUF, Majcen teaches classes in meteorology. This fall he will teach an introduction to weather and climate, along with two lab sections.
“Frankly, I can’t wait to teach that class,” he said. “It’s an awesome class. It’s every student who comes to that class. And it’s not for majors. It’s general education. I like engaging with students from different backgrounds. This is definitely a job where I feel that I’m making a difference.”
There is another reason why he enjoys teaching.
“Helping the students succeed is the way, and probably the only way, that I can pay back
to my professors,” Majcen said. “I cannot pay back for the time they spent helping me. So one way of, you know, kind of returning the favor is to help the future students. I enjoy that a lot.”
—Ian C. Hall,
APSCUF intern