Nuts & Bolts: FSU events, Annual Meeting reminder, Update on Uniting to Defend Public Higher Education, NTT Promotions, Longevity Bonus and MTA Benefits

4/14/2025

FSU Calendar April 14th to 18th      

FSU lunchtime in UDC, Wednesday, April 16th 12:00-1:00PM

Join colleagues on Wednesday to relax and enjoy time away from our offices. Pizza and cookies provided.

Contract Bargaining Session, Wednesday, April 16th from 9:45AM to 11:30AM W- 5 -041

Join your core bargaining team as an expanded team member. This week we are meeting in Wheatley, on the fifth floor, in room 041.

FSU Annual Meeting, Thursday, April 17th 3:00-5:00PM in zoom- Open to FSU members only

Please join us to hear about the past year and current FSU activities, adopt a 2025-2026 budget, and provide input on future activities.  The FSU is your union.

Dear Faculty and Librarians,

This week there is our FSU annual meeting, FSU lunchtime pizza in UDC and a collective bargaining session.  In addition, April 15th is tax filing day. If you have not yet completed your taxes, you are not alone.  We seem to be procrastinators as for years people have waited for the last day. Until recently it meant rushing to a post office before midnight. Now just a click of a button.  I do miss the late-night party atmosphere at the Summer St. Post Office (near South Station).

FSU Annual Meeting, April 17th 3PM

Our annual meeting is this week.  On Tuesday you will receive a reminder email with meeting details including the agenda and meeting materials.       

We look forward to seeing you Thursday afternoon.

Update: Uniting to Defend Public Higher Education

On Tuesday, April 8th MTA higher education members from across the Commonwealth met for a 16 minute teach in to discuss the actions aimed at public higher education. Three faculty spoke on how these actions are impacting their campus and their work.  Our colleague, Helen Poynton SFE, provided powerful remarks on the impact on research and on our students.  Check out the video at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1SAL_gES2-FgHRI1Ce8oymBcN4nsaioNP/view?usp=sharing.  Helen’s comments begin at 6:16.

Upcoming Events: April 15th Palestine 1492: A Report Back, A conversation with Dr. Linda Quiquixox

2:00PM in Ballroom C.

(This is an FSU Anti Racism Grant recipient event)

An intimate conversation with Dr. Linda Quiquivix as she shares insights on her new book Palestine 1492: A Report Back which blends storytelling, radical geography and decolonial theory she traces the connections between settler colonialism in the Americas and Palestine and what this means.

Upcoming Events: April 17th Resisting the New McCarthyism and Complicity from UMass to Palestine with Professor Rabab Abdulhadi

(This is an FSU Anti Racism Grant recipient event)

Professor Abdulhadi will speak at 3:30PM in UHall room 3350. This event is part of the April 17th National Day of Action for Higher Education.  

NTT Promotion: Deadline to inform of your intent to apply is May 14

Promotion to Senior Lecturer and ranks above requires you to inform your chair of your intent to apply for promotion.  The date to submit an email to your chair is Wednesday, May 14th.  Although you indicate your intention to apply for promotion in May 2025, your promotion materials are not submitted until January 2026.

A more detailed email will be sent to non-tenure track faculty.

Know Your Contract: Longevity Bonus

Retiring bargaining unit members (TT, NTT, and Librarians) are entitled to 1.5 days of pay for every year of service (see Article 27.8 of the contract). Retiring members should contact HR prior to their retirement date to ensure the payment will be made.

MTA Benefits: MTA Magazine Services

MTA Magazine Services provides discounts on a variety of magazine subscriptions. MTA members receive two free subscriptions per year (limited selection). Log into your account, go to Benefits & Discounts, select Free Member Benefits and click on Magazine Subscriptions.

Monday, April 21st is Patriots Day, a Massachusetts (and Maine) state holiday commemorating the first battle of the American Revolution that took place on April 19, 1775.  April 2025 begins two years of celebrations of our independence.  Check out https://massachusetts250.org/events/ to see April events.  

Nuts & Bolts will return on April 28th.

Sincerely,

Caroline Coscia                                 

FSU President                                   

Senior Lecturer II                               

Political Science Department