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Letter from an APSCUF Student Intern

Aug 12, 2016 |

Need inspiration for your letter to Chancellor Frank Brogan? Here’s what APSCUF’s summer intern wrote:

Aug. 12, 2016

Office of the Chancellor
Dixon University Center
2986 North Second St.
Harrisburg, PA 17110

Dear Chancellor Frank T. Brogan,

My name is Corrinne Rebuck, and I am getting ready to enter my senior year at Mansfield University this fall. I have an older sister who attended Bloomsburg University a few years ago, so my family is a proud supporter of the State System. After hearing the many benefits of choosing a State System school from my sister, I naturally gravitated toward these institutions.

As a graduate from a small high school, I was especially inexperienced in the college scene. From Day 1, my professors at Mansfield made me feel that I belonged there, and that nothing was out of my reach as a student.

Although my time at Mansfield has been exceptional in multiple ways, I cannot help but compare my experiences to that of my sister’s. My sister majored in psychology at Bloomsburg and spoke volumes of a neuropsychology course she had the opportunity of taking. Being a psychology major myself, I, too, wanted to add this class to my educational experience. I asked my adviser, and he said that although the course had been offered a few years ago, it had to be cut since Mansfield no longer had the proper faculty member to teach the course.

Unfortunately, this is not the only situation I have witnessed in my time at Mansfield where I began to question the quality of the institution, simply because there never seemed to be enough faculty members. I often witness my professors being stretched in multiple directions to make our educational experience the best it can be within their ability. Courses needed to graduate are often filled to their capacity since hiring more faculty members is unlikely under current circumstances. I see faculty work significantly harder to do more with less in an effort to give their students all that they can — often beyond the limits of what a single person should be doing.

Being only one student who witnesses one department’s struggles, I can guarantee I’m not alone in my observations. I ask that you seriously negotiate a fair contract for my faculty members, especially since students are the direct beneficiary of their position and are with them every day on campus.

I will always remember my professors and their ability to go above and beyond for me and their other students. Unfortunately, I will also remember their struggle to attain the fair contract they rightfully deserve.

Please keep the faculty members across the State System in mind as the negotiation process continues, so other students can give credit where credit is due and continue to be proud supporters of the State System.

Respectfully,
Corrinne Rebuck

APSCUF life: Doing whatever it takes

Aug 9, 2016 | ,

This summer, APSCUF is going behind the scenes to show how faculty members and coaches continue to devote themselves to affordable, quality education even when class is not in session.

Adeyiga

Dr. Adedoyin Adeyiga is a chemistry professor at Cheyney University. Photo courtesy of Dr. Adedoyin Adeyiga

As a professor at Cheyney University, Dr. Adedoyin Adeyiga is responsible for more than teaching his students about chemistry. He also manages the grants that help make that learning possible.

That means time outside classroom and office hours, adding up to 50- to 60-hour workweeks. Those hours include committee and service work, research, and professional development. His schedule is packed, but Adeyiga strives to remain accessible to students, he said.

Adeyiga does “whatever is needed to make sure the needs of the students are met as well as the agencies supporting/funding my grants,” he said.

As a grant manager for the university, Adeyiga provides Cheyney with an average of $500,000 each year. The task comes with its own set of responsibilities: Adeyiga oversees his own data manager and administrative assistant.

Adeyiga also participates in three campus committees, which means additional meetings along with his department meetings and various meetings associated with grant managing. Juggling his multiple responsibilities can be daunting at times, he said, as he is often expected to be in several places at the same time. Sometimes, one of those places is the classroom or lab, and Adeyiga is devoted to making sure his students are his main priority, he said.

“Cheyney is a small school, and we do not have the luxury of graduate science students or a lab technician who could prepare labs for us, so we do the lab preps ourselves,” he said.

A supporter of his personal academic development, Adeyiga strives to participate in as many professional-development opportunities as he can to increase his knowledge and bring new ideas back to his students. Grant management provides a number of such opportunities. He is able to attend conferences, take courses related to his area of study, do some grant-writing, and participate in peer reviewed discussions for federal organization, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Science Foundation.

Adeyiga also finds time to pursue his own research projects, one of which involves the study of sickle cell anemia. His research findings on that topic could provide a therapy method for those living with this disease.

These types of research projects are part of why Adeyiga pursued a career in chemistry in the first place, he said. Adeyiga knew from the onset of his high school career that teaching was for him. The passion to contribute to and find solutions to societal issues steered him toward chemistry in particular, he said.

Finding a balance between his personal and professional life proves challenging, he said.

“When you are as committed as I am, anything goes,” Adeyiga said.

Witnessing his years of commitment come to fruition is an element Adeyiga finds most satisfying about his job, he said.

“With teaching, the reward is instant, because we get to watch them graduate, get a job or head to graduate or health-professional schools,” Adeyiga said.

—Corrinne Rebuck, APSCUF intern

 

New secretary of State APSCUF no stranger to service

Aug 5, 2016 | ,

Michele Papakie

Indiana University of Pennsylvania Professor Michele Papakie, at an executive council meeting in July, is new secretary of State APSCUF.

As an alumna of Indiana and California Universities of Pennsylvania, a professor at IUP, and a parent of a State System student, getting more involved in union service came naturally for Michele Papakie, she said.

“It did not take me long to see the importance of a union in state-sponsored higher education,” Papakie said.

The new secretary of State APSCUF said she is keen on working with the other members of executive council and partaking in the new opportunities that await her.

“We are blessed to have amazingly talented and intelligent people on our executive council,” Papakie said. “During my term, I am hoping to learn everything I can from them and share my perspectives as well.”

Papakie said she is especially eager to share her viewpoints as both a product and contributor to the State System. After working in public relations and journalism for two decades, she said she also believes her years of communication experience and personal insight into higher education provide the executive council with a unique perspective.

“I am confident that when conversations and concerns arise around these constituencies, I can provide a reasonable person’s insight to ensure empathy and representation of ideas and potential impact when contemplating decisions,” Papakie said.

Papakie said she is looking forward to gaining greater insight into the issues APSCUF faces.

“By serving on the executive council, I will become more aware and more articulate about the issues that threaten the quality education we provide at our State System schools, and I will be able to communicate them more confidently and widely,” she said.

A professor of journalism and public relations at Indiana University for the past decade, Papakie said she knows the importance of fighting for the causes and concerns professors and coaches face across the State System.

“I am living proof that the high-quality education our universities provide is the fruit of the intense labor and compassion our faculty and coaches provide daily,” she said. “I want to devote my energy now to seeing that my fellow dedicated professionals and I get the respect and voices we have earned and deserve in the process.”

Serving as a lieutenant colonel in the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, Papakie said she is no stranger to service. Hoping to become a colonel before she retires, Papakie enrolled in Air War College to work toward this promotion.

Dedicating her time and energy across an array of service leadership positions has allowed Papakie to serve on a multitude of levels from local to military leadership — and now to union leadership.

“I ran for secretary of APSCUF to learn about our union and its workings from a broader vantage point,” she said.

Kara Laskowski, another member of the executive council, said she believes Papakie will make an excellent addition to their membership.

“My impression of Michele is she is both highly organized and highly committed to the principles APSCUF embodies,” Laskowski said. “Her experiences in both the military and higher education will make her a highly valuable member of the executive council.”

Even with her hectic agenda, Papakie said she ensures her priorities are straight.

“Despite my insanely busy schedule that ultimately revolves around some type of service in one way or another, my family and my friends always come first,” she said.

—Corrinne Rebuck, APSCUF intern

___

Michele Papakie at the RNC

While in Cleveland for the Republican National Convention, Michele Papakie volunteered to be an usher for “The Daily Show” and was put in the studio audience. Photo courtesy of Michele Papakie.

In case you missed it: Papakie at the RNC

Michele Papakie was a faculty leader for the Republican National Convention July 18–21. She oversaw 15 students during their time in Cleveland. As an “avid and critical consumer of news,” as Papakie describes herself in one column, she outlined her point of view on the conventions’ events in her a series of columns for the Indiana Gazette. Each day, she summarized her experiences and her take on what transpired.

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