Higher Education

MEA member J. Blake Johnson received MEA’s Distinguished Servant of Public Education Award for the Cardinal Solutions program he founded at Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) in 2013, which allows students to do design and other work for local nonprofits and businesses before graduation. ____________________________________________________________________ J. Blake Johnson What art and design work did you do before becoming a professor?…

By Brenda Ortega MEA Voice Editor As Chandra Madafferi begins her tenure as president of MEA, anyone wondering what she will prioritize in the new role can look to her stewardship of the Local Presidents’ Academy (LPA) to understand what she values most in leadership. Systems thinking. Empathic listening. Transformative change. Chandra Madafferi A longtime teacher and union leader in…

MEA member Ronald Smith could have been a science professor at a big, prestigious four-year university, but he chose to spend his 50-year career teaching students at Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek – and that has made all the difference, he says. Ronald Smith, photo by Simon A. Thalmann/Kellogg Community College Smith retired from his post teaching physical sciences…

On March 31, state Rep. Carol Glanville (D-Walker) met with the board of MEA’s  Michigan Association of Higher Education (MAHE) to discuss issues affecting colleges across the state. As the Chair of the House Higher Education Committee, Glanville has spent 30 years in the field of education as both a teacher and administrator, working with students from pre-K to graduate…

Faculty at Monroe County Community College have overwhelmingly approved a no-confidence vote in President Kojo Quartey and filed charges of Unfair Labor Practices against the college, which the faculty association addressed with a show of solidarity at the Board of Trustees meeting on Monday night. Faculty at Monroe County Community College, pictured here at a recent Board of Trustees meeting,…

Michigan’s economic future hinges on our state’s ability to attract good jobs and investments — and no factor is more critical in that endeavor than having an educated and trained workforce. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recognizes that, and it’s reflected in the new state budget that passed last Friday with overwhelming bipartisan support. The quality of a state’s workforce is the…

The pressures of COVID have reinforced a belief long held by David Schneider, a Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) professor and the faculty union’s chief negotiator for 25 years: “Not everything needs to be negotiated for us to have a voice.” David Schneider Funding in three federal COVID-relief packages included tens of millions of dollars for Michigan colleges and universities,…

Eva Menefee says her interest in academic advising grew out of a bad experience she had as a young undergraduate student seeking guidance from an advisor. “I wanted to be an accountant, which at that time meant getting into the school of business. I can remember going to see the advisor, and he said, ‘People like you don’t become accountants.’…

An overhaul of the broken federal Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF) announced on Wednesday is meant to restore the promise made to educators and other public service employees who have suffered under the program’s 98% rejection rate. Changes include a limited one-year waiver that allows all payments by student borrowers to count toward PSLF, regardless of loan program or…

Tuesday marked the beginning of key legislative movement in the State Legislature on both distribution of much-needed federal COVID relief funding and the annual education budgets for the 2021-22 school year. Relief Funding The House passed HB 4421, which appropriated the remaining ESSER 2 ($841 million from December) and all the ESSER 3 ($3.3 billion from this spring’s American Rescue Plan)…