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Two New Staff Members Join The Association, One Retires
Two new staff members joined the Association this year, and one longtime staff member retired. John Curtis began work as director of the office of research in March. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Johns Hopkins University and has worked at universities in Germany and Kenya. Curtis, the former director of institutional research at Germanna Community College in Virginia, will have primary responsibility for the Association’s annual report on the economic status of the profession. He plans to work to increase the report’s usefulness to faculty and to develop a research program in other areas of interest to the Association.
Muriel Poston, a professor of biology at Howard University, joined the Department of Organizing and Services as a faculty organizer, focusing on assistance to advocacy (or traditional) chapters. A longtime AAUP member, Poston is particularly interested in shared governance and academic freedom on campuses serving diverse populations, and has been an active member of the AAUP’s Committee on College and University Government. She was an American Council on Education Fellow at the University of Virginia in 1996–97. Poston has a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and recently earned a law degree from the University of Maryland.
“We’re pleased to have these two new colleagues, who both have experience as faculty members and a real understanding of higher education, including the administration’s point of view,” says AAUP general secretary Mary Burgan. “John and Muriel both understand that faculty and administrators must be sympathetically allied if we are to serve our students and our research.
Stephen Finner, a member of the Department of Organizing and Services, retired in August after twenty-three years on the Association’s staff. A banquet in his honor was held at the Association’s annual meeting in June, and AAUP president Jane Buck took the occasion to remind the assembly of Finner’s achievements, particularly his work with collective bargaining and historically black colleges and universities.
During his career, Finner visited more than 350 college and university campuses, making him the most well traveled staff member in the history of the AAUP. After many years in the field, Finner is a trove of information, and “he will be missed by many,” says Burgan. On September 1 Finner assumed a half-time position as the coordinator of higher education services for United Professions of Vermont (American Federation of Teachers). He will be working primarily with the United Academics, the faculty organization at the University of Vermont, which is affiliated with the AAUP and the American Federation of Teachers.
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