ActionLine NEA

The NEA Board of Directors has voted overwhelmingly to recommend that NEA join with AFT in a new, united organization.

After a spirited, five-hour debate, the Board voted 106-53 to urge delegates to NEA's highest policy-making body, the Representative Assembly, to approve the recently negotiated guidelines for creating a new organization.

Noted NEA President Bob Chase after the vote: "Today's debate centered around how NEA members and their organization can stop wasting time and energy and pool our resources."

Delegates to the 1998 Representative Assembly will vote on July 5, by secret ballot, on the negotiated "Principles of Unity."

Approval by delegates to the NEA and AFT conventions would pave the way for the organizations to unite. For more information and a chance to discuss the upcoming unity vote, visit www.nea.org/unity.

NEA is proud to announce a series of new writing awards intended to highlight the Association's commitment to quality teaching and learning in the academy.

The new competition features four new prizes: the 1998 National Education Association Art of Teaching Prize, the Democracy in Higher Education Prize, the New Unionism in the Academy Prize, and the New Scholar Prize. Each prize carries a $2,500 cash award and publication in Thought & Action, the NEA higher education journal.

Award winners will also be invited to be presenters at the 1999 NEA Higher Education Conference as guests of NEA.

The deadline for submissions is October 31, 1998. For submission guidelines, visit the NEA higher education Web site: www.nea.org/he or E-mail CLehane@nea.org.

NEA higher education members nearing retirement can lock into low NEA-Retired membership rates by joining now.

Life memberships are available for a one-time only fee of $100. As a lifetime member, you'll receive Planning for the Best Years of Your Life, a financial and retirement planning book that can help you prepare for life after work. you'll also receive the NEA Retired magazine and continue to receive your NEA higher education publications. For more info, visit www.nea.org/retired.

The Thought & Action Review Panel held its spring meeting on a campus this year.

The panelists---NEA members who review and select articles for the NEA Thought & Action journal---journeyed to California State University at Long Beach to participate in a symposium on technology cosponsored with the California Faculty Association.

It's not too late to apply for one of the three positions currently open on the Thought & Action Review Panel. Send resume and writing sample to Con Lehane, NEA Publishing, 1201 16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.