Sept. 2018 Advocate: Meet our new AFT 1493 Executive Committee members

AFT 1493 OFFICERS

Meet our new AFT 1493 Executive Committee members

We asked our new AFT 1493 Executive Committee (EC) members to introduce themselves so faculty (who aren’t already acquainted with them) can begin to get to know them. We encourage you to reach out to your AFT reps. if you have any work- or union-related issues or questions. -Ed.

Steven Lehigh, CSM Chapter Chair
x6428; lehigh@aft1493.org

Hello colleagues! I am very excited to serve my first term on the Executive Committee and represent the faculty of CSM. I am originally from Southern California, after a previous stint in the Bay Area, I have now been teaching Economics here since 2011. I represent AFT on the District Budget and Finance Committee and have previously served on Academic Senate. I believe the union can play a key role in achieving the goals of faculty and look forward to serving our members.

In my free time I enjoy traveling, gardening, cooking and all things fermentation.

Please feel free to reach out if there is any way I can help you or if you have any suggestions.


David Laderman, CSM Executive Committee Rep.

x6302; laderman@aft1493.org

Greetings, My name is David Laderman, and I’m delighted to be serving this year as the new AFT EC representative for CSM.  This is long overdue for me.  I’ve always felt strongly supportive of our union, and more importantly grateful for all the AFT achievements over the years, on behalf of our faculty, students and the quality of higher education in California.

I teach Film at CSM, I also coordinate the Honors Project program – and I absolutely love my gig.  I feel blessed.  Recent years, I’ve been heavily involved in Academic Senate, serving two terms as President at CSM.  Senate is my first instinct.  And I’ve followed that calling.  But my other slightly more submerged calling has been to become involved in AFT.  Now is the time.

I believe in forging even stronger bonds between AFT and Academic Senate, as well as further bolstering collaborations across the district.  We are a family, a community.  Let’s work harder to act as one – a challenge at times, but more often a source of progressive joy.

I think one general goal for AFT should be to move our public image from one of crisis management and damage control, to one of celebration.  Especially as an activist antidote to these dark political times.
I’m still learning.  But I’m here, and pledge to follow through as best I can, for my colleagues.


Rudy Ramirez, CSM Part-Timer Rep.

x6372; ramirez@aft1493.org

Hola, fellow members! I am delighted and honored to be part of this group that I know little to nothing about … hahaha! I do know that I believe in a strong union who will look after us. As an Adjunct Professor in Ethnic Studies at CSM, I feel even more vulnerable without adequate representation.
Teaching to me is my ministry and I believe in expanding these young minds into wholesome, critical thinking members of society. My moniker is El Professor because I am also a professional musician (guitar) and bring music into my classrooms and use it as a teaching tool. I put on musical/academic events in the CSM Theatre once a year. I call it “edu-tainment”. People don’t know they are being educated because they’re too busy being entertained.

 

Bianca Rowden-Quince, Skyline Chapter Co-Chair
x4296; rowden-quince@aft1493.org

Greetings fellow faculty colleagues! My name is Bianca Rowden-Quince and it is my pleasure to serve as the Skyline AFT 1493 Co-Chapter Chair in partnership with Rika Yonemura-Fabian. At Skyline College, I am a faculty instructional designer who works to provide pedagogical support, inspiration, and thought-partnership for my faculty colleagues in support of student success. In my unique role, I have had the pleasure of collaborating with many faculty on our campus and have become more aware of challenges that we face as faculty when we try to show up as our best selves in service to students.

Our collective voices and solidarity, coupled with our desire to make change, fuel my interest in being more involved the union. As your elected Chapter Co-Chair, I am committed to giving voice to our faculty and working with our AFT leaders to strive for a more equitable, fair, and supportive working environment. I am looking forward to working more closely with many of you along the way!


Rika Yonemura-Fabian, Skyline Chapter Co-Chair

x7156; fabian@aft1493.org

My name is Rika Yonemura-Fabian, and I am very excited to serve as a Skyline Chapter Co-Chair. In the last two years of teaching full-time as a Sociology and Social Justice Studies faculty, I have observed pressing needs for organized, strong collective voices that advance faculty’s interests to better serve our students. My main interests serving in this position are the workload issues and advancement of racial justice through union activism.

I am pretty new to serving on the Executive Committee, and I am learning the workings of AFT and our Chapter, but in the process of growing, I hope to be able to contribute to this important organization.

 

Nathan Jones, Skyline Executive Committee Rep.
x7037; jones@aft1493.org

Hello everyone. I appreciate you all welcoming me to participate as the AFT 1493’s Skyline College full-time faculty Representative for the Executive Committee. I have been in the SMCCCD since 2010. I am currently an English instructor at Skyline College, where I teach English Composition, Critical Thinking, and Literature focusing on social justice. I have also taught African American Studies, Pre-Composition, and Critical Thinking at various Peralta Community Colleges for several years. At Skyline College, I am presently the Ed Policy Chair in the Academic Senate and an English Department’s Stewardship for Equity, Equal Employment and Diversity (SEEED) Committee representative.
I am a poet, essayist, spoken word artist, musician and author of Black Man in Europe (2005, 2008) and Excerpts From My Soul: Read Without Prejudice (2010). I hold a BA in Sociology from Cal State University East Bay, a TESOL Certification from Oxford House College Barcelona, Spain, an MFA in English and Creative Writing with a concentration in Poetry from Mills College, and a Certificate for the Teaching of Post-Secondary Reading from San Francisco State University. In my spare time, I enjoy reading poetry, traveling, and watching independent and international films. I look forward to representing my colleagues at Skyline College.


Barbara Corzonkoff, Skyline Part-Timer Rep.

corzonkoff@aft1493.org

Greetings fellow faculty. My name is Barbara Corzonkoff and it is my privilege to be the Skyline AFT Adjunct Faculty Representative for the 2018-2010 school years.

I have been involved with expanding students’ intellect for over 30+ years. I still find it a fun, challenging and a never-ending learning experience. I have all the appropriate degrees, credentials and certifications to be teaching at Skyline College. I have taught in elementary, high school, adult and community college environments. I teach computer applications and my technological instructional abilities were developed before there were very many computer applications or instructors, and personal computers were in their infancy. I have been an eyewitness to the development and growth of the personal computer and applications and it truly was an explosion and a revolution – very exciting times.

I have been involved in Union activities, when, right out of high school, I was hired at AT&T. The Communication Workers of America ensured a safe work environment, a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, and health benefits for all employees. When I taught for the San Mateo County Office of Education, I was involved with the CTA/SMCEA union as a faculty member, an office holder, and a member of the negotiating team. I am proud to remain active in union activities through AFT 1493. My focus is on fair and equitable treatment for all Skyline Faculty and particularly for Adjunct Faculty.