On the Road
with Valerie Wilk

If you pay attention to bylines, you'll notice a new name on this column. I joined the NEA staff on February 1st, coming from the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.

At AFSCME, I focused on health care issues and participated in political and organizing campaigns, including some in academia.

My first NEA event on the road was, fittingly, the higher ed conference. It was inspiring to hear Clarence Romero, this year's Community College Professor of the Year and a member of NEA's California Community College Association, talk with such passion about his students and their organization, Latino Educators of Tomorrow. And it was thrilling to meet two of this next generation of teachers, Lorena and Maria Ortega.

ESP member Nancy Fletcher of the University of Maine Professional Staff Association talked about her satisfaction working with nontraditional students who make up half the student body at the University of Maine at Presque Isle.

Ruth Mandel at the College of the Desert in California outlined the challenges of organizing part-time faculty. Elaine Coney from Southwest Mississippi Community College told me about some of the changes she has seen over her 10-year career in higher Ed and the challenge of teaching more students who lack critical thinking skills and who don't read much.

NEA President Bob Chase ended the conference with a charge for higher education activists to become more aggressively active in organizing and political action: "The fact is we can change reality rather than surrender to it," Chase said. "We can create the future."

— Valerie Wilk coordinates NEA higher Ed activities.